Resident Evil: Lost Legends
by RedBanker42
Summary: Chris Redfield goes back to where it all began - Raccoon City. He's not quite sure what brought him there, but he is about to run into some old trouble. Taking place a few years after the events of Resident Evil 6, Chris wants to investigate more of Neo-Umbrella. He is about to open the door to new mysteries on the site of the old Spencer Mansion.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Chris breathed in air that was crisp and cool. Dark, ominous clouds hung overhead, preventing the morning sun from delivering light to the ground. Chris could see the mist of his breath as he slowly exhaled. It was all he could do to keep his heart from leaping out of his chest. He had gone back…he had gone back to where it all began. Raccoon city.

He stood on the edge of the city now, looking at the ruins from afar. A large chain-linked, 50-foot fence was erected around the outskirts, fitted with barbed wire to keep any curious passer-by out. Warning signs were placed every 20 yards or so, each warning any on-looker about the radiation. A sign just off the highway was half-missing, charred edges creating a darkened boarder. It said, "…ow Entering …coon City." Any other time, the sight would have been comical. Eighteen years had gone by and only a few remnants of the city remained.

He had left his dark green pick-up truck parked off the side of the exit ramp while he walked up to the fence. Grasping the fence with his bare hand, he felt the cool metal chill him to the bone. The city that he remembered was long gone. Instead, only an apocalyptic vision lay before him, a window into the future of mankind. No evidence that life – or the undead – ever resided in the barren wasteland. Chris had to shake himself out of a haze of relentless thoughts and memories of his long-lost home. He took a step back, unsure of how far the radiation extended from the bomb site.

Chris had decided to leave most of his gear behind. After all, this visit was on his own time. He wore a simple black t-shirt, dark blue jeans, and his combat boots. He had also brought his favorite black jacket that Jill had given him for his birthday. It was wearing thin, but it was sufficient to keep the cool air at bay. He always took his survival knife with him wherever he went. Chris touched the handle, protruding from the sheath on his belt.

Still there.

He relaxed a little bit, but was still weary of his surroundings.

He had left his trusty handgun back in the hotel room – a decision he was now starting to regret. The files had assured him that all experimental creatures were obliterated in the explosion. But what about the outskirts? Would they still be here so long after the incident? Chris rubbed his chin, feeling the stubble as thoughts of paranoia continued to race through his mind.

Jill had warned him not to come.

"What exactly are you looking for?" She asked after she caught him looking at the files of the Raccoon City Incident. He had brought the files to his office at BSAA headquarters after pulling them from Records. She came in to see if he wanted to take a lunch break with her.

He explained that he was planning to go to Raccoon City. "I just want to make sure there wasn't anything we missed," he lied, "Neo-Umbrella is probably looking at anything to get back into the game. I want to beat them to the punch." He offered a small smile, but Jill saw right passed it. She was always able to read him better than anyone. He hated lying to her, but he didn't know how to explain the real reasons behind his journey.

"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked.

"No, you've got your work here. I'm taking my vacation early this year."

"That's one hell of a vacation," she said, arms crossed.

"Well, you know me," Chris said, trying to make his smile more convincing, "I'm not happy if I'm not working."

Jill became solemn. "Just promise me you'll come back in one piece, partner."

He mimicked her mood. "I promise."

Chris was never fond of showing affection, but he offered her a hug, and she accepted it. After that, they went out to lunch as usual, talking about trivial things. She accepted his secrecy, for which he was grateful.

As he looked upon the desolated city, he found himself wishing he had brought Jill with him. Chris found it difficult to be apart from her for too long. If she had been with him in Edonia or China, things may have turned out differently.

 _She would have died instead of Piers._

The thought came like a sharp knife to the stomach. _Piers._

 _Too soon._

It had been years since Piers rescued him from the HAOS monster. Chris held onto hope that Piers was still alive, but after weeks of searching for the body, the BSAA came up empty. Chris tried balancing his emotions between hope and despair for Piers, finding it easier to just avoid the thoughts altogether. When his comrades offered their condolences again and again, he found himself wanting to punch half of them in their insincere faces. Fortunately, people moved on with their lives after a few weeks of offering fake sympathy to Chris.

He pushed the thoughts of his lost partner from his mind. Looking around, he took in his surroundings once more. The tall fence stretched on for miles in both directions. Knowing full well that he could not enter the city for fear of radiation poisoning, Chris decided that he would travel to the forest of the Mansion where it all started. No doubt, that portion was partitioned off as well, but he had to see it. He just had to try…

He went back to his truck and started the engine. The radio was set to full volume and it shook the entire vehicle as an old rock song played. Chris turned it off. He usually liked to listen to loud music as of late. When the music was loud, his thoughts were silent. But now…now he had to think.

Chris decided to head east first, trying to think back to the best route to the forest. He knew he had to go off road eventually, but for now, the road would take him to the tree line. A helicopter would have been faster, but Chris wanted to remain inconspicuous. He would have to sign a 'copter out of the BSAA, giving a reason for the use. Only Jill knew his true location and he wanted to keep it that way.

The outskirts were just as empty as the apocalyptic scene to his left. When the order was made to neutralize the city, the surrounding towns were given a few hours to evacuate. No one came back. Whether it was because the once great Raccoon City was now in ruins, or people were still fearful of the "cannibals" living in the forest, Chris didn't know. Yet, he was grateful that he had his privacy on this journey.

Looking to his left, Chris could see the decrepit skyline of the city. Buildings that were once skyscrapers were reduced to rubble, and houses were reduced to ashes. Chris was able to see his old apartment building – or, what was left of it.

He had enjoyed the city when he lived there. As a new cop, he was moving up in the world rather quickly. Chief Irons promoted him right away, placing him in the STARS unit, despite Chris' previous infractions with the air force. Irons saw potential in him. The Chief turned out to be a deluded psychopath, easily bribed by Umbrella, but Chris still took the promotion as a compliment. By helping Chris, Irons may have known that he was choosing a potential enemy. Irons was a man who wanted formidable enemies, not weaklings who could easily be destroyed.

Or maybe he was just an ignorant coward. Chris shook his head at the thought.

After a few miles, Chris made it to the edge of the forest. The combination of the radiation and winter air had deprived the trees of their greenery. In a previous life, the forest would have been a paradise, filled with life. Now, it is merely a ghost of something long forgotten. Only brown rot remained. The forest ran for miles behind the city, and the fence continued straight through, dividing the trees. A path was formed a few yards to the right of the fence, just large enough for Chris to fit his truck. The mansion was still several miles in the forest, so he decided to drive down the path.

Branches scraped the outside of the truck as he drove, almost as if to say, "keep out" or "turn back while you still have a chance." Chris couldn't help but feel like he was making a poor choice by coming…

THUD.

Chris slammed on the breaks after the truck jolted. He got out of the truck, leaving the engine on and door open. A low-pitched alarm came from the vehicle, warning him that he left his keys in the ignition. Chris ignored it, stepping out of the cab and looking back down the path.

A few feet back he saw an animal lying on the ground. It was covered in brown, matted fur. As Chris approached it, he saw that the skin was decayed in various places. White bone protruded from holes in the in the skin. When he was right by the animal's body he saw that he had hit a dog. He knelt down to take a closer look. Tire treads were imprinted on the rear of the animal where he ran it over.

"Sorry, Fido," Chris said, relieved to see that he wouldn't have to put it out of its misery. It looked like it had been dead for quite awhile.

Just as the words came out from his mouth, a low growl came from the body. Before Chris could move the dog got up and jumped on top of him, knocking him onto his back and pinning him to the ground. He held the animal's neck with both hands as it snapped its sharp teeth at his face. He could only pray that the animal wouldn't tear his guts out. Drool fell on Chris' face, making it difficult for him to see.

He tried to kick at the dog, but the full weight of the canine held him down. Chris cautiously tried to remove one of his hands from the dog's neck in an attempt to grab his knife. As soon as he released some of the pressure, the dog gained some ground. Chris felt the heat of the beast's breath on his face and pushed back with all his might. His only hope was to outlast the dog's endurance.

 _This is how I die,_ he thought, _how ironic._

Chris closed his eyes so that he could focus on keeping the dog from ripping into his face. He could feel the dog's movements and he struggled underneath the body. The bones that protruded from the animal felt like sharp knives in his torso. A few moments later, he felt the pressure release and the dog whimpered somewhere on his right. The beast had flown off of him somehow. Chris opened his eyes and saw the tree line above him, but no dog. He sat up and looked around.

The dog's body lay by the side of the dirt path, a knife in its skull. Chris started to approach when the dog's body began to move once more. Pulling out his knife before the dog could jump on him again, Chris got into a defensive stance. But the dog didn't attack. A man was beneath the body and was shifting it to the side.

The man sat up, facing the away from Chris, dusting himself off. Before the mysterious figure could gain his bearings, Chris jumped over and held the knife to his throat from behind.

"Who are you?" Chris said into the man's ear.

The man swore loudly, throwing his hands into the air. "I just saved your life, man! What the hell?"

 _I've heard that voice before._

Chris let go and took a step back. He held the knife in front of him, aimed at his savior. "Turn around," he said, "Slowly."

As the man stood up and turned around, Chris couldn't believe his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

He was staring into the face of Albert Wesker.

No, not Wesker. Wesker's son, Jake Muller.

"Oh, it's you," Chris said, sheathing his knife. "What are you doing here?"

Jake dusted himself off. "I've got my reasons," he said. He was dressed in his street clothes, similar to the ones Chris saw him wearing back in China. He also wore a blue jacket and gray beanie as a means of fighting off the cold. His blue eyes were as piercing as the cool winter air. "It would help if you didn't attack me along with the dogs."

"Why were you following me?" Chris asked, suspicious.

"I wasn't," Jake said, walking around him. "I was here first." Jake stooped down and picked up a hand gun off the ground. Chris imagined he dropped it during the fight. It would have been dangerous to shoot at the dog while Chris was under it: Jake could have missed and shot him instead. Chris was doubly grateful for Jake's quick thinking.

"Oh," Chris said, "Well, um…thanks for saving me, I guess."

"You're welcome, I guess," Jake said, giving him attitude.

Chris ignored Jake's snark. Instead, he pulled out his cell phone and started to sift through his contacts.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jake shouted when he saw the device. "What are you doing?" Jake raised his hand as if to snatch the phone, but he still kept a distance.

"Calling this in," Chris said calmly, "That dog you just killed was a Cerberus."

"A what now?" Jake said, taking a step back from the dog.

"Back in '98," Chris explained, "when the STARS unit was here, we encountered a bunch of creatures. We took some of the files from the lab before it blew up. A dog that was injected with the Tyrant Virus was called a Cerberus. I'd recognize those creatures anywhere." Chris felt a shutter coming along with a slew of terrifying memories of the creatures from the Spencer Mansion all those years ago. The moment passed - he was able to keep his composure and focus on the task at hand, just like he always did.

Chris found the BSAA number in his phone and set it to dial.

"I thought a Cerberus had three heads," Jake said, shifting his focus back to Chris. "Could you not call your buddies, though?"

An operator picked up on the other line. "BSAA Headquarters," he said formally.

"This is Captain Redfield," Chris said, "Can you transfer me to Sergeant Valentine?"

"Yes, sir. Just a moment sir." There was a slight hint of awe in the man's voice before the operator put him on hold. Chris hated the effect his reputation had on people.

He turned towards Jake. "Why don't you want me to call this in?"

Jake looked nervous. "I'm not exactly here…legally."

"Is that so?" Chris said, raising an eyebrow. He knew the kid had a knack for getting into trouble, but he thought maybe he had learned his lesson after his adventures in China.

"Maybe," Jake said, "could you hang up so that we could just talk about this? You don't have to call it in."

"What if I gave you a head start?" Chris said, "It'll take them a few hours to get men out here, and I can distract them for another hour after that. That'll give you enough time to find an airport, at least." Chris was never one for breaking the law or helping a fugitive escape, but he felt he owed Jake.

"Chris?" Jill's voice could be heard over the phone. "Chris? Are you okay?"

"No, I need to be here," said Jake in harsh whispers. "I'm looking for answers, same as you."

Chris only looked at the young man, expressionless. What could he be looking for?

"Chris? Do you need back up?" Jill said, obvious concern in her voice.

"I'm here, Jill," Chris said. "I just wanted to check in, see how things were going without me."

"You could have called my cell phone for that," she said, irritated. "It's boring here. Mostly paperwork."

"I'm glad I'm on vacation, then." Chris said, smiling.

"Haha, screw you." Jill's playful tone quickly evaporated. "Did you find what you were looking for?" she asked.

"Not yet," said Chris, "I'll probably be out here a few more days."

"It's just a pile of ash out there. There won't be much to find." He could tell that she just wanted him to come home. Even though she would never admit it, Jill was angry with him for his six-month hiatus back after Finn and the guys…

The memory was still too painful.

As much as he respected Jill and her wish to keep him out of trouble, Chris knew he had to keep pushing forward, especially now that he's seen evidence that something is going on.

"I know," he said trying to reassure her. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Remember your promise," Jill said, "That covers your mental state too."

"I remember," Chris said. "I'll talk to you later, Jill, I have to go."

"Alright. Good luck."

"Thanks."

Chris hung up with his partner and put his phone away. He couldn't help but wonder if she bought his lie this time.

 _Probably not._

"Thanks, Redfield," Jake said, "You really saved my ass."

"Just returning the favor."

"Great, now we don't owe each other anything. See ya." Jake turned heel and started walking down the path, past the truck, and into the trees.

"Wait!" Chris shouted after him, "Where are you going?"

"I've got work to do!" Jake shouted back without turning around.

Chris ran after him. When he caught up, he grabbed Jake's arm and turned him around.

"Don't make me shoot you," Jake said, irritated. He pushed Chris away and dusted off his harm where he had been grabbed.

"I already know you won't do that," Chris responded, pointing to a scar on his cheek from their last encounter. Jake had given it to him during a moment of tension between the two men. Jake had just found out that Chris was the one who killed his father during a mission in Africa.

Jake simply gave him a glare.

"There could be more dogs out there," Chris said urgently, "Let's stick together."

"No," Jake said, "I've got to do this on my own."

"Why?" Chris asked, "Are you on a suicide mission or something?"

"Maybe. What's it to you?" He tried to shake his arm free, but Chris held on.

"Listen, I'll make you a deal. We stick together, we find out what's going on here, and after it's all said and done, we can go our separate ways. I'll be out of your hair for good."

"Is it because I'm an asset to the BSAA or something? When another virus breaks out I'll be the blood bank again?"

"No," Chris said, "I'm just not ready to let another good man die, especially when there isn't a good reason."

Jake stood still for a moment, lips pursed together. Chris let go of his arm, and he took a step back.

"You know I can take care of myself, right?" Jake said, arms crossed. "I've been fighting for my life for a while."

"I know," Chris said, "But it wouldn't hurt to have an extra set of hands." Chris knew the kid was prideful. He wasn't about to tell him about the horrors of the Mansion that made him wish he had an entire army the first time he was there. The horrors that still gave him nightmares.

"Fine," Jake said. "But nobody ever knows that I was here, got it?"

"Deal," Chris said. "I'm sure you want to sit in a warm truck anyway."

"Hell yeah," Jake said, running back towards the truck.

Chris shook his head in amusement as he followed after him. The kid was a pain in the ass, but he was handy to have around. Jake had started as a mercenary much younger than Chris would have ever thought. When he first heard Jake's story, he couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow for the boy. After his mother died, all he had was his title as mercenary and the cold, hard cash that came with each job.

When Chris caught up with the kid, he found him already sitting in the cab, hands in front of the vents that were blowing hot air. Jake must have been dying to find someplace warm.

Chris jumped back into the driver's seat and shut the door, finally killing the alarm. They rode in silence for the first few miles. Jake fiddled with the radio, but the static made his efforts fruitless. Chris was fully aware that the man sitting beside him had held a gun to his head just a few years before. Was recruiting the kid to help him a bad idea?

Had he changed? Did he still hold a grudge towards him? After all, Chris was the one who killed his father – a man that Jake will never get to know, for better or for worse.

The most haunting question at the back of Chris' mind was whether or not he still would have killed Wesker if he knew he had a son. The answer is still yes, he would kill the madman hell-bent on destroying everything. Yet, it would have been more difficult. Chris found it hard enough killing the STARS Captain he once admired.

How much did Jake know about his father? When Neo-Umbrella captured him for six months, was it full-disclosure? Jake seemed different from Wesker, but Chris was not sure if he could feel safe around him. At the same time, he didn't want to be alone in the Cerberus-infested woods. Wesker was an experiment of Umbrella – a side-project. How much of the psychological trauma was passed on to his offspring? There was no way to tell. The kid was a hot-head and impulsive, but not insane.

Chris was just like him once. Probably still just like him…

"So…" Jake said, interrupting Chris' thoughts, "Was that Jill woman your girlfriend?" He had his legs rested on the dashboard and hands behind his head. He looked pretty relaxed for someone who just wrestled with an undead dog.

"What?" Chris said, snapping back to reality.

"The chick on the phone. Your face lit up when you spoke to her. Is she your girlfriend?"

"She's my partner," Chris said defensively. He would have glared at the kid had he not have to watch the narrow path before him.

"Whoa, didn't mean to hit a soft spot there. I was just curious."

Just then, Jake's jean pocket vibrated. He took his feet down from the dash and pulled his cell phone out his pocket. Out of the corner of his eye, Chris saw Jake open a text message, read it, and then chuckle.

"Who's that?" Chris asked.

"No one." Jake said absently.

Chris leaned over and looked at the sender. "Agent Birkin? You still talk to her?" Chris asked. "Don't you think that's dangerous considering she knows your true identity?"

Jake swore and moved away, trying to hide the screen from Chris' view. "Get off my back. I do what I want."

"Sorry," Chris said, "I didn't mean to hit a soft spot."

Jake glared in response. "I guess girls are off-limits," he said vehemently, "for both of us. So what do you suggest we talk about, asshole?"

"How about what you're doing here?" Chris asked.

"I already told you, man. I've got my reasons." Jake leaned back in his seat and put his feet up again. He crossed his arms and looked out the window, letting out a long breath that fogged up the glass. Relaxing his posture slightly, he turned back towards Chris. "What are you doing here?"

"To see if there's anything here Neo-Umbrella could use against us," Chris said, restating the same lie he told Jill. "If they really are jump-starting the old research, here would be a good place to start…if there's anything left.

"Bullshit," Jake said. "The BSAA always comes out on top. Why are you really here?"

Chris was silent for a moment. The question hung in the air and Chris could feel pressure on his chest. Why _was_ he really here? He couldn't even articulate it for himself, let alone tell it to the son of his arch nemesis. "I've got my reasons," Chris said, breaking his silence.

Jake leaned back and stroked his chin. "I guess that one's off-limits, too."

"I guess so," said Chris. He turned the wheel as he went around a sharp turn.

Jake looked out the window. He squinted his eyes as he saw movement behind the trees. There were people coming from the woods, moving slowly as though they were injured.

No, not people. Zombies started walking out from behind the trees as Chris drove slowly down the forest path. Some of the zombies were so decayed that mostly bone was left. The vital organs that allowed them to function were dangling precariously from fraying tendons.

"Do you see that?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, I do," Chris responded. Both men quickly decided to set their differences aside for a moment. They had to focus on something else now.

"Drive faster," Jake said. "Run them over. We have the advantage."

"I can't," Chris said, "This road is too narrow and has too many turns. We'll be dead in a ditch before we're eaten."

"Shit."

The two men could only watch helplessly as the road filled with the living dead. Some stumbled and fell onto the ground, but continued to crawl on top of each other. Chris continued to drive, running over arms, torsos, and skulls as the zombies fell in front of the truck. Up ahead, several zombies had barricaded themselves onto the road, making a wall of rotting flesh. Chris saw it and knew that he would be taking a risk by driving through it.

"Hold on," he said. Jake braced himself, anticipating Chris' next move.

Chris slammed on the gas pedal and broke through the barricade, sending bits of zombie spiraling through the air. Both men laughed, celebrating their small victory. Yet, the celebration was short-lived. Up ahead was a small ravine about ten feet across. Only a small foot bridge extended over the gap – not wide enough for the truck. Chris only had a few seconds to make the calculations.

He looked over at his passenger.

"I know, I know," Jake said, "'Hold on'."

Chris slammed down on the gas pedal once more, heading towards the right side of the foot bridge. A natural ramp was located at the edge of the ravine and the other side of the gap was slightly lower in elevation. Chris made a mental note to be more appreciative of his luck…if he survived this.

The truck's engine roared as it approached the ravine. They were gaining ground between them and the zombies, but Chris couldn't stop now. If he braked, they were sure to fall into the abyss. If he swerved, he would hit a tree. He would rather be injured and on the other side, away from the zombies, than injured and waiting for them to overtake the truck.

As soon as Chris reached the edge, his side view mirror clipped the post of the bridge. The truck lifted off the ground. Everything was in fate's hands now. Both men let out loud shouts as the truck made its way to the other side. The last thing Chris knew was that the truck slammed into the ground. Then, everything went dark.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Chris came-to, but found it difficult to open his eyes. His whole body felt achy, but it was bearable. He was lying down on…was it a mattress? Was he back home? Did he dream the whole encounter?

No, the smells in the room told him otherwise. He found the strength to open his eyes. The sights filled his very soul with terror.

He was in a wooden cabin, furnished with just a bed, an armchair and a table in the far corner. A dying fire in front of the chair was the only light source in the room. Light flickered on the walls to reveal empty picture frames and maps of the surrounding forest.

Chris' pain subsided for a moment as he shot up in bed. Visions of chains, rotting flesh, and sorrowful moans filled his mind. Lisa Trevor…this cabin was not unlike the cabin where he first encountered the chained monster all those years ago. The product of betrayal and inhumane experimentation, Lisa Trevor was the daughter of a researcher with Umbrella, George Trevor. After all her pain and suffering, all she wanted was to find her mother and she was willing to kill anyone who got in her way. Chris and his team were bright, red targets for her rage. He had far too many near-death experiences with the poor creature.

One last vision set his mind at ease: Lisa Trevor had fell into a deep abyss after finding her mother's body. She was satisfied, and probably dead. No human could have survived such a fall. Then again, she was not human…

Chris shook the last thought from his head. No time to dwell on past terrors. Plenty of nightmares surrounded him already.

He felt the pain from the crash come back, and in full force. His head ached, his chest was burning, and his legs felt numb. Not an inch of his body was spared.

The crash. Jake.

Did he make it?

 _Where is he?_

Ignoring the pain, Chris stood up. It took him a moment to steady himself, but he was able to stand on his own. He felt the cool wood floor on his bare feet. Chris could only limp towards the door of the cabin. As he reached for the handle, he saw it shake. Someone was coming in.

Chris felt for his knife, but it wasn't there. Thinking quickly, he sidestepped to the wall. As the door opened, Chris was hidden behind it. He would be able to attack the stranger from behind. Standing with his back to the wall, he waited for the person to enter. The dying fire was of no use – Chris could not recognize the silhouette that stood before him.

His mind ran through calculations again. He had only a few seconds to decide: attack the figure and risk killing an innocent, or make himself known and risk being killed. Sneaking out was not an option – not in this small, creaky cabin.

Before he arrived at his final decision, the figure spoke.

"What the hell?"

It was Jake.

"I'm here," Chris said, the pain making him double over. Jake spun around and caught him before he hit the floor.

"Why are you standing up? You took a lot of damage from that crash." Jake placed Chris' arm over his shoulder and led him back to the bed in the corner.

"I didn't know where I was," Chris said honestly.

"Yeah, no shit," Jake said, "You were out as soon as we landed. I thought you were dead."

The young man set him down on the bed and lifted his feet up for him.

"Thanks…again," Chris said.

"Don't mention it," Jake said. He went back across the room to the small table in the corner. On top sat his knife, along with a travel bag that Chris had kept in his truck. "You hungry?" Jake asked, pulling out a can.

"Starved," Chris grabbed the pillows from the bed and arranged them so he could sit up comfortably.

"I took this bag from your truck before it caught fire," Jake said, heading over to the fire place. "I hope you don't mind."

"That's what it was there for," Chris said. "We may have to ration out the food. I only packed for one."

"We'll manage," Jake said. He found a pot hanging from the fire place and wiped it clean with the sleeve of his jacket. "This will work," he said, assuring himself that it was safe to use. He poured the contents of the can into the pot and placed it into the fire. He then found a stick and prodded the coals to try to keep the fire from dying.

"So the truck is gone?"

"I think one of your hubcaps survived, but yeah, it's a burning pile of metal right now." Jake looked right at Chris. "Sorry if it was important to you."

"It's alright. Not your fault."

Jake got up and opened the cabin door, walking straight out. He came back in a few seconds later, caring some wood for the fire. He carefully arranged them around the pot so that it would stay upright. "Should have done this first," he muttered to himself.

Chris sat in silence as he watched the kid work. He thought to give him pointers, but decided against it. The kid had a quick temper, and Chris wasn't in the mood to start a fight. Jake probably has been through more terrors than Chris anyway. Who knows what he had to see on a daily basis?

"So I thought of a topic we could talk about," Chris said, "Unless you deem it off-limits."

Jake let out a small laugh. "Whadda got?" he asked. "How there are still zombies here now almost twenty years after the lab blew up?" He kept his focus on the fire, which he was able to bring back to life.

The kid was right. How the hell were there zombies still alive after so many years? How did they survive not only the self-destruction of the lab, but also the nuclear destruction of Raccoon City? It didn't make any sense. But they were not done exploring. They would find answers soon.

"Well, that...or we could talk about why you keep saving me. The man who killed your father?" Chris looked at him intently, measuring his mood. He was ready to drop the topic if it struck a chord, but he was still curious about Jake's motives.

Jake stopped working on the fire. He stood up, placed the stick up against the wall, and sat down in the armchair. He stared blankly at the dancing flames before answering. When he did, he didn't look at Chris.

"You're a good man, I guess. Sherry is very fond of your sister. I met her, you know…Claire. She's great."

"Yeah, she told me," Chris said, "She said you were quite the character."

Jake looked at Chris and smiled, "Did she really?"

Chris returned the smile, "Yeah. Said you made her laugh a lot. And that you make Sherry very happy."

Jake looked away from Chris, but the smile never faded. "Claire is a good person. I'd hate to see her suffer, even if that means keeping her brother alive." Jake looked back at Chris. "The man who killed my father."

Chris tried to get a read on Jake, but got nothing. "Hey, I'll take it," he said, "That woman has kept me alive for as long as I can remember. It makes sense that you would intervene on her behalf."

Jake looked away again, eyes on his hands, fidgeting in his lap. "What was he like?"

"Who?" Chris asked.

"My father. I only got the Neo-Umbrella version and Sherry says I don't need to know."

Chris was amazed at what Jake was asking him. Of all the people who knew Albert Wesker, why would Jake ask Chris what he was like? "There's some wisdom in what Sherry says," Chris responded. "Once you know about him, you can't go back. Are you sure you want to know?"

Jake took a moment, breathing in and out slowly. "Yeah, I do."

Chris was silent for a moment, giving Jake time to reconsider his request. Jake nodded as a means of affirming his decision.

"Before I found out that he was working for Umbrella, I had the utmost respect for Captain Wesker. His posture, his confidence, even the way he dressed was impressive. He was always sure of himself and made the right calls as Captain of the STARS unit. He was never one to joke around or party with the rest of us, but that only made me respect him more. He was the best Captain I ever saw."

Jake gave a slight smirk. "Until you found out he was a lunatic," he added.

Chris chuckled. "Then there's that," he said.

"Did you ever suspect he was crazy?" Jake asked.

"I didn't think anything was off until the Mansion Incident. Usually, as a team, we stick together. 'No one gets left behind.' But Wesker kept asking all of us to split up. I realized after the fact it was so that he could sneak around and pick us off one by one." Chris let out a sigh. "But he was our Captain," he continued, "A good one at that. I had no reason to question him."

Jake leaned back into his chair. He was silent for several minutes. Chris knew that he was taking it all in, piece by piece. He just didn't know how Jake was going to use this new information. Why did he ask about his father? Chris figured anyone would want to know a little bit about their biological parents. They may not like what they find, but they go searching anyway. Bad news is better than no news. But Jake knew his father was a madman. Wouldn't he want to leave that door closed? Was he trying to find a connection with his father somehow?

All of a sudden, Chris' nostrils were overcome by a poignant smell. "I think dinner is burning," he said. The air was filled with the smell of burnt food.

"Oh, shit!" shouted Jake as he jumped out of the chair. He grabbed the pot with his bare hand, and then snapped it back when the pot burned his skin. "That was the dumbest thing I've ever done," he said, reaching for a pot holder. He was able to grab the pot with his other hand, protected by the pot holder, and pull it from the fire place. Jake took the entire concoction over to the small table. There, he grabbed two bowls and some utensils from the bag. "I hope you like burnt beans," he said jokingly.

"My favorite," Chris said. He accepted the bowl from Jake. The contents were a black mush, but Chris was so hungry, he couldn't care less. He had worse before.

Jake sat back down in the chair and started to eat his meal.

"So," Chris asked, "Is that why you're here? To find out about Albert Wesker?"

"Part of it," Jake answered between bites.

Chris wanted to ask what the rest of it was, but decided to drop it. He already got more out of the kid than Jake probably wanted to share. He was here to try and find a remnant of his father to which he could relate. Chris knew that Jake wouldn't find it, but he was hoping that he would hold onto the fact that Wesker was a good STARS Captain. Chris's worst fear for Jake was that he would want to follow in Wesker's footsteps. If Claire was right about Sherry Birkin's relationship with Jake, then the chances of such an outcome were slim. At the same time, the thought kept coming across Chris's mind.

What if that was the other part of Jake's reason for coming to Raccoon City? What if Jake wanted to pick up where his father left off?

"What do we do now?" Jake asked. He had finished his meal and set his bowl aside.

"What do you mean?" Chris asked.

"Well, the truck is gone, you're out of commission, and we're in a forest surrounded by lame-brains. I only see it getting worse from here."

Chris rubbed his stubble. "I see your point. I've taking a worse beating before, though. I'll be fine."

Jake gave him a look full of doubt, but said nothing.

"I can call this in – send for an evac chopper…" Chris started.

"You already know my answer for that one," Jake said.

"How are you here in the states illegally?" Chris asked, only imagining the predicament Jake had gotten himself in.

Jake chuckled. "Well, only the highest officials know me as the man who saved the world from the C-Virus. Everyone else knows me as Jake Muller, mercenary at large. I'm public enemy numero uno in the states. Even the CIA has me listed as their number one target. My face is posted everywhere."

Chris wasn't considered a top official in the BSAA to know such top secret information. The only reason he knew Jake's true identity was because he had to save him from an underwater facility off the coast of China four years ago. He was simply told not to tell anyone about Jake, which was easy enough. If Chris had a crazy relative that tried to destroy the world, he wouldn't want people to know about it.

It was a wonder that Jake was such a wanted man. What kinds of jobs did he have as a mercenary? If the CIA knew the truth about him, would that remove his status as Public Enemy No. 1, or would they want the son of Albert Wesker in custody?

"How'd you get into the States if you're on everyone's most wanted list?"

"I called in a few favors," Jake said, standing up and taking Chris' bowl.

"You mean Agent Birkin," Chris said, eyeing the young man as he walked back to the bag on the table.

"I will neither confirm nor deny that Agent Birkin was involved in my recent travels," Jake said, smirking.

"I thought she didn't approve of you finding out about your father," Chris said.

"She may or may not think that I'm here visiting an aunt," Jake said, trying to clean the bowls with an old rag.

Chris chuckled, "Just some advice for you, from one man to another: Women will find out the truth, no matter how hard you try to hide it."

"Do you know that from experience with Jill?" Jake said, raising an eyebrow.

"Actually, yeah," Chris answered back. Jill probably knew the truth about Chris's visit to Raccoon City before he would admit it to himself.

"I don't mind Sherry finding out that I lied to her," Jake said, putting the bowls and utensils back in the backpack. "Just as long as she doesn't find out until I'm done here."

Jake came back over and plopped into the arm chair. "You never answered my question," he said.

"What do we do now?" Jake nodded and Chris continued, "I guess we find out what's going on here…just you and me. No BSAA back up."

"Yeah, but how?"

Chris thought for a moment. "How did you find this cabin?" he finally asked.

"Well, I had to pull your ass out of the truck before it caught fire. After I set you down away from the crash, I checked to see if the area was secure from any more zombies or dogs. It would have been hard to fight them off with an unconscious deadweight. I circled about 50 yards and I saw this cabin from a hill. The big fence around the radiation is no more than a mile that way," Jake pointed towards the south.

"So we're north of the city, and north of the mansion," Chris said, rubbing his stubble again. "This cabin didn't exist when the STARS Bravo and Alpha teams were here twenty years ago. This is new."

"How does that help us?"

"As far as I know, the BSAA wasn't ordered to set anything up here. The city was destroyed and that was good enough." Chris slid out of the bed and landed on all fours onto the wood floor. He ignored the pain as he started knocking on the wood.

"Now you just look like an idiot," Jake said, looking on curiously from the armchair.

Just as Jake finished his statement, Chris knocked on hollow wood. It was under the bed. "Help me move this," Chris said, standing up and grabbing the end of the bed.

Jake sighed, but got up. "I don't think we'll find anything here."

Chris looked at him sternly, "Humor me."

The bed was easy enough to move, especially with Jake's help. The hollow wood was partially covered with an old throw-rug. Chris pushed that out of the way and found a trap door on the floor. A small groove in the wood served as a handle. Chris pulled it open.

The door revealed a staircase descending into darkness.

"I'd say our best bet is to go this way," Chris said, smirking at the kid.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Chris felt triumphant, especially since Jake had doubted him. He could only celebrate for a moment – he and Jake had to come up with a plan.

Both of them decided it would be better if they got some sleep before entering the trap door. Chris had rested because he was knocked out, but Jake had been up for several hours. It would be better to go if at least Jake was at full health. The kid was reluctant, excited for the new find, but agreed that he would be better prepared if he got some sleep.

Chris volunteered to stay up to keep watch. He gave up the bed and sat in the arm chair so that he could see both the door of the cabin and the trap door. Nothing could take him by surprise. He had Jake's 9mm in his hand with the safety on. After seeing a Cerberus and zombies roaming around outside, Chris didn't want to be surprised by anything else.

As he sat and listened to Jake's heavy breathing, he couldn't help but think about the Mansion Incident that started everything. He was just a young man back then, not much older than the kid snoring loudly from the corner of the cabin. Little did he know that he would be fighting bio-terrorism for the rest of his life. Would this still be the path he chose if the Mansion Incident never happened? How much has he personally invested in his career path because of the horrors he saw that one night back in 1998?

What he remembered most about the event was that Jill was always in the back of his mind. Was she alright? Where was she? If she died, was it a quick death?

And the funny thing about it was that he barely knew her at the time. She was newer to the STARS team, hired on because her skills she learned from her father. He remembered being weary of her, seeing some irony in having a master thief's daughter on an elite police unit. Jill knew she was an outsider, too. Only Barry showed her some kind of acceptance, and even he betrayed her trust.

Chris felt close to her when it was all over. They both saw horrors that no other person should ever see and they both were betrayed by someone who they thought they could trust.

 _This boy's father._

Chris rubbed his stubble as the thought crossed his mind. Would he ever be able to fully trust the kid? Would Jake ever trust him?

He checked his watch and realized he was overdue in waking Jake. He decided to wait a few more minutes. The kid took care of him so well that he deserved a long rest.

* * *

"Rise and shine," Chris said as he shook Jake to wake him up.

Jake flailed his arms and Chris had to dodge his subconscious attacks.

"Geeze, Kid!" Chris yelled.

If Jake wasn't awake before, he was fully alert after Chris's exclamation.

"You didn't have to be so violent," Jake said, rubbing his eyes.

"You ready?"

"Are you kidding?" Jake said angrily, "you JUST woke me up. I have to pee." Chris rolled his eyes as now-conscious Jake went outside to relieve himself of a full bladder.

Chris was anxious to get started. He was surprised by his own excitement. If there were continued experiments after the explosion, what else has the BSAA missed? Chris should be feeling angry, and maybe even guilty. Perhaps he was excited because he survived the Mansion Incident the first time – maybe he'll come out on top this time too. Even with the excitement, Chris made sure to keep a clear head. Any mistake could cost him his life – or Jake's.

The young man came back into the cabin, straightening his jeans. As he approached, Chris held out the handgun to him.

"Naw, you can keep that, gimpy," he said, pulling out his knife.

"Don't worry about me," Chris said sternly, "I can hold my own without one."

Jake took his gun back, but gave Chris a confused look. "I have a better chance of getting away than you do right now. Don't you think you need this more than I do?"

"Never give your best weapon to your worst soldier." Chris tried to offer a smile as appeasement.

Jake was still evidently confused, but didn't question the man about the gun again. He holstered his weapons and turned his attention to the trap door.

Chris had already propped open the door and was standing by the entrance. The descent into the unknown looked more menacing the second time 'round - when they were actually going to explore its depths.

"You first," Jake said, eyeing the darkness below.

Chris glared at him. "You were ready to go down there last night. What happened?"

"It's not cowardice, if that's what you're thinking," Jake responded confidently. "It's strategy. If you go down and spring a trap, I can avoid it."

Chris decided to ignore the kid. He really didn't mind going first, but he didn't like how cowardly Jake was acting. This kid took on so many horrors in his life – why is this any different? Not only that, but he was eager to go down the trap door the night before...what had changed? Now almost tenured twenty years in the business of killing bio-organic weapons, Chris really had to change his perspective to empathize with the kid. Here at the site of the first zombie outbreak investigating a mysterious cabin with a trap door leading to god-knows-what with an experienced zombie-killer – yeah, he would send the zombie-killer in first too.

Both men made the remainder of the descent in silence. Chris wasn't sure if they were silent because of the anticipation, or to make sure they do not warn any enemies of their presence.

As they descended further down the stair case, the air became cooler. Potent smells filled Chris's nostrils – that of metal and rust. A slight dripping noise could be heard in the distance. Light from the cabin quickly became insufficient to illuminate the path before them, so Chris pulled out a flashlight he always kept in his jacket pocket. It wasn't his favorite tool; the flashlight was not a high-beam light yet it could still easily give away his position. At the same time, Chris didn't want to miss anything on the way down. As they made their way down the stairs, the dripping became louder and louder.

Suddenly, Chris's nostrils were assaulted by the smell of rotting flesh. He had to hesitate on a step to keep from vomiting.

"Jesus, what is that?" Jake asked. "Smells like you after those beans last night."

Chris recovered from gagging and shot daggers at Jake with a glare. "Smells like zombies," he said in hushed, but angry tones. "Why the hell are you telling jokes right now anyway?"

Jake threw his arms up in surrender. "Sorry," he said, "I was trying to lighten the mood."

"Save it till after we see what's going on."

Both men continued to descend. Chris had to cover his nose with his t-shirt to ward off the smell. Jake quickly followed suit. Dried blood could be seen on the stairs, growing in quantity the further down they went. Soon the blood enveloped the entirety of the steps.

After a few more steps, Chris could finally see the bottom of the staircase. He was both relieved to see flat ground and worried about what may lay ahead.

The last few steps were uneven, with complete chunks of the stairs missing or broken. Chris had to watch his footing carefully as to keep from tripping. He indicated to Jake to do the same. At the bottom of the stairs, Chris entered a doorway into a large room.

It was only then that he saw the source of the smell.

A vision of horror lay before them: hundreds of corpses were piled into mountains as far as they could see into the darkness. Areas fortunate enough not to contain rotting bodies instead were covered in blood and viscera. The piles of rotting flesh had once been zombies – Chris could recognize that right away. Yet, they were completely still. As far as he could tell, every last corpse had some type of wound to the head, rendering it completely harmless.

They all were harmless, but the smell was tortuous.

"Oh my god…" were the only words that Jake could muster as he walked forward to stand at Chris's side.

"There's so many," said Chris, in awe.

After the initial shock of the massacre in front of them, both men took in the rest of the room. The stairs had lead them to an underground building that seemed to be still under construction. Exposed beams meant to support a ceiling were about fifty feet above their heads. The men could even make out zombies hanging from the beams. It was the blood dripping from these corpses that was making the sound that echoed through the staircase. At the far side of the room, Chris could barely make out an electronic door. He recognized the design from the original mansion.

"This is bad," Chris said, taking a step back. His mind went into over-drive, trying to come to some logical conclusion as to how this room came to be. If someone was trying to rebuild the mansion, why would they want the zombies rendered useless? Wouldn't they want the extra protection?

Unless some third party came before them who wanted to make sure that Umbrella could not revive the experiments. Maybe Chris and Jake were seeing the aftermath of a battle between villains and heroes.

"What do you think happened?" Jake asked after several moments of silence. "Did someone beat us to the punch? Or are there multiple bad guys here fighting for the same stuff?"

Chris hadn't thought that maybe the third party could have been villains too. Would that be the worst-case scenario? A rat race amongst powerful, but evil men to find the best bio-organic weapon?

Before he had time to decide, large florescent lights turned on, momentarily blinding both Chris and Jake. An alarm started to sound as red lights flashed all around the room. Chris could faintly make out the sound of a scraping – metal on metal.

Chris turned around as quickly as he could, but it was too late. A large metal door moved to close over the stairs. By the time Chris and Jake realized they would be trapped, there were but a few inches of space left to see the staircase back to the cabin. Jake, determined not to be stuck in what seemed to be a death chamber, clawed at the door. The metal was too heavy for him and the stairs were out of sight in an instant.

Another sound made Chris veer back around to face the dead monsters. Large hoses were descending from the ceiling. Their stop was abrupt, and soon after, they started to release some type of liquid onto the mountains of zombies.

Jake dared to remove his t-shirt from his face. Chris could see obvious fear in his expression. "I know it mostly smells like dead people in here, but I'm pretty sure that's gasoline."

Chris had to be sure. He removed his t-shirt from his face and the full force of rotting flesh attacked his nostrils once more. The urge to vomit was powerful, but Chris held it down. After regaining composure, he could smell it too. Jake was right: the hoses were spraying gasoline upon the zombies.

Without warning, Jake shouted and swore as he launched across the room to the electronic doors. Chris tried to stop him, but he eluded his grasp. Jake slipped a few times on pooled blood and would stumble to regain footing. By the time he reached the door, he was drenched in gasoline. Jake didn't care. He started banging on the doors in desperation.

"We're in here! Let us out! Please don't let us die!"

Jake continued to yell, scream, and hammer at the door with his fists to try to gain someone's attention.

Eventually the hoses stopped spraying. Chris had no choice but to follow Jake across the room. The room could be set on fire in an instant and both men would die a painful death. He would rather yell and scream for his life than let that happen in silence.

Suddenly a booming voice came on loud speakers placed around the room.

"Oh, hi there," the voice said. It was a rich voice, smooth and calming.

Jake stopped banging on the door.

"I'm so sorry," it continued, "I didn't think anyone would be able to find this place. Hang on a second, let me open the door for you."

Chris recognized that voice. He was racking his brain to try and figure out who it was.

"Um…on second thought, I need you two gentlemen to promise me something after I open this door for you."

Chris said nothing – he was still trying to figure out where he had heard that voice before. It was hauntingly familiar.

"Yeah, man, anything," Jake said, taking charge when Chris didn't respond. "We just need to get out of here."

"I know," said the voice. "Okay, I need you to promise that you won't kill me."

"Why would we kill you after you just saved our lives?" Jake asked.

"Captain Redfield may have a reason," the voice said. "But I need you to promise."

"Yeah, whatever man," Jake said growing impatient. "We don't want to be burned alive. Let us out."

"Okay…"

Jake took a large step back from the electronic doors as they clicked and whirred. They slowly opened to reveal a man in a white lab coat and sun glasses.

Chris finally recognized the man in an instant.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"No," Chris said silently. He stood motionless for a moment. Jake could see disbelief and anger rising within his companion. "It can't be."

Chris recognized the man standing before him as Albert Wesker. In an instant, memories came flooding back into Chris' mind. He remembered the moment he realized Wesker had betrayed the STARS unit, sending the Tyrant monster upon him. Chris had a clear image of the beast – mostly man, gray skin with an exposed, grotesque heart on his chest. Towering over six feet tall, this beast would attack anything that came near it. He had been fearful for his life at the time.

Chris also had the memory of Wesker attacking him on Rockfort Island when he was simply trying to rescue his sister. He remembered the uncertainty of whether his sister was alive and the overwhelming fear that Wesker may get to her first. Chris had followed the trail to the base on Antarctica, rescued his sister, but then met up with Wesker on their way out. The base had been collapsing in on them at the time, and he remembered being separated from his arch nemesis, unsure when he would see him again and what he was plotting.

The final, but most difficult memory to occupy Chris' mind was that of seeing him again in Africa. His partner, Sheva, and him walked through the door to find Wesker alive and well on his way to destroy the world with Uroboros, a parasite that he had created. Chris had also found out that Jill had been captured and brainwashed, and was set to kill Chris and Sheva. That had been one of the hardest moments of Chris' life – having to face the fact that his oldest and most trusted partner would have no qualms about killing him. Wesker had gone too far.

All his memories, crystal clear in his mind, flooded him with intense emotion. Chris felt a hot rush of anger, confusion, hatred, and fear. So many feelings boiled within him that all he could see was red.

"Well it's not-" said the man in the lab coat, interrupting Chris' thoughts.

"Shut up!" Chris shouted, trembling with anger. "I saw you die twice now! The second time I blew you into oblivion! How the hell do you keep coming back?!"

"You see, it's a simple explanation, really- "

The man kept trying to talk, but Chris interrupted him once more.

"No!" he said with disbelief. "No no no no. This can't be!"

"Chris, what's going on?" Jake asked, confused. "Who is this guy?"

Chris didn't pay any attention to Jake. "Wesker! I will kill you once and for all!"

With that, Chris started to reach for his gun. Quickly remembering that he gave up his only weapon to Jake, he instead started to charge at the man with his knife.

It took Jake only a split second to realize that Chris believed that the man standing before them was his father. The kid came here for answers, and this man was the key to getting them. He took off after Chris.

Meanwhile, the stranger had darted to the far side of the room, weaving behind equipment and computers to elude his attacker.

Jake caught up in no time. He jumped onto Chris's back, placing his arms underneath the attacker's arms. He was able to wrap his arms back around until he had his fingers laced behind the wild man's head. This would keep Chris from trying to head-butt him. Jake used this maneuver before to calm down angry comrades so that they wouldn't run hot-headed into battle. It gave them a chance to calm down but also kept Jake from getting hurt.

Chris's knees buckled at Jake's added weight. Had he been at full strength, Chris could have kept going. He was kneeling on the ground, still locked into in Jake's strong grip.

"Stay out of this, Jake!" Chris shouted.

"No, Chris," Jake said, in as calming of a voice as he could muster. "This man, whoever he is, just saved our lives. We promised not to harm him when we entered the door. We owe him a chance to give an explanation. Can we do that?"

The composure and calm voice were out of character for Jake. It all threw Chris off guard. The blind rage started to fade. He had to muster up more anger before he could respond.

"No!" Chris struggled. "No, he'll take any opportunity he gets to come up with a plan to escape. We have to kill him! Now!"

"Look, Chris." Jake shifted enough so that Chris could see the assumed Wesker, peeking around a corner with caution, trembling. "Does that look like someone who wants to kill you? Or someone who even has the means to?"

"You don't understand, Jake! He's betrayed my trust before! He'll do it again!" Chris let out a guttural noise, something close to a growl.

"Fine, Chris," Jake said, now growing irritated. "I won't let go until you are calm."

For what seemed like an eternity, Chris struggled to get Jake off his back. Flashbacks of Wesker's prideful face filled his mind, pushing him to be rid of his captor and kill his arch nemesis…yet again. Despite his best efforts, the kid had a death grip on him, refusing to budge. Chris could not break free. Partially out of fatigue, partially out of helplessness, he surrendered.

"Okay, Jake," he finally said. "You can let me go."

"You good?" Jake asked.

"Yes," Chris answered simply.

Jake released him slowly. When it was evident that Chris would no longer struggle, he helped him to his feet. The kid continued to eye him suspiciously, but Chris showed no signs of charging again.

"I will not hurt this man," Chris said, his voice low and serious, "Not until he has had a chance to explain why he is here. BUT if he says anything I don't like, I'll kill him."

"You've had your chance," Jake responded, matching Chris' intensity. "It's my turn. And I'm going to keep him alive until he explains everything."

"You don't know what this man's done-" Chris started, ready to disappear yet again into the blind rage, but Jake cut him off.

"The hell I do!" Jake shouted.

Chris suddenly realized that Jake had more reason to be angry with Wesker than he did. Not only did the twisted man abandon Jake and his mother, but he left him a genetic inheritance for which he would forever be pursued. Chris was angry with Wesker for betrayal, manipulation, and almost destroying the world. Jake was angry with Wesker for destroying his life.

It was a wonder why Jake didn't charge at the man; yet, had Chris been in his shoes, he would have wanted some answers before taking revenge. He was sure Jake wanted to know why Wesker had abandoned him as a child, knowing the full extent of the legacy that he was leaving behind.

After both of them settled down, the man who looked like Albert Wesker came out from hiding. He took timid steps towards his angry guests with his hands raised in surrender.

Upon his approach, both Jake and Chris turned towards him with glares upon their faces.

"I guess my predecessor didn't leave a good first impression," the man said, offering a slight smile.

Chris was confused at the joke. "Your predecessor?" he said. "You have to be really careful how you explain what is going on here. Your life depends on it."

"Oh, believe me," the timid man said, eyes darting back and forth between the two men before him, "I know."

"Go on, man," Jake said, crossing his arms. "Start talking."

The Wesker look-alike took a deep breath and then let it out. He lowered his arms to his sides. He realized that if Chris and Jake wanted him dead, then he would be a dead man, regardless of whether he approached them with a posture of surrender.

"Before July 1998 happened, as you know, Umbrella was in the midst of bio-organic experimentation with several different test subjects. The lab under the Spencer Mansion was the main lab. But this," he gestured towards the room around him, "and several rooms down that way" he pointed to an electric door behind him, "belong to another lab that was built to store the surplus of experiments. It was damaged in the explosions, but since we are north of the city, it survived."

"And who are you?" Chris asked. He was skeptical of this man's story. He looked over at Jake in case he had to fill in any blanks that the kid may have had. Chris was surprised to see that he was following the man's story. Sherry Birkin told Jake about Raccoon City; maybe Sherry filled him in on more than she was authorized to tell…

"I don't know if you ever came across the documents in your raid of not one, but two Spencer Mansions, but there was a grand total of thirteen Wesker children."

"I may have found that list, yes," said Chris. "What does that have to do with you?"

"Albert was the last, but greatest of the Wesker children that Spencer had created. Genetically, he was perfect. Any bio-organic upgrades that Spencer gave him was accepted by Wesker's DNA. After he was about ten years of age, the researchers were so impressed that Spencer demanded that he be cloned."

The Wesker look-alike used his hands to point to his body from head to toe.

"I am that clone."

Chris stared in disbelief.

"So you're basically Wesker 2.0?" Jake asked.

"No, not really," Wesker's clone answered, "Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, my body would not accept the same upgrades that the real Albert Wesker received. I would get sick for a short time and the virus or parasite would die off. Currently, I am one hundred percent human."

"Why did your body reject the upgrades?" Jake asked. He looked over at Chris to see his reaction to this revelation. His companion's face was expressionless.

"The cloning process is more difficult than anyone would like to admit," he said. "I can tell you about how telomeres start out shorter in clones. And then there's that whole bit about epigenetics."

"Telo-what?" Jake asked.

"Never mind," Clone-Wesker said quickly, "Basically, I had the same DNA as the real Wesker, but he and I were…are…two different people. I had different life experiences than him, and therefore I was shaped differently. Their timing may have been off when the experimenters were administering the upgrades, or maybe my DNA just changed enough to reject the same materials. There's no way of knowing now."

"So," Jake asked, nodding in his direction, "If you're not Albert Wesker, what's your name?"

"They called me Al." The clone stood up tall, almost as if he was taking pride in the fact that he was given such a nickname.

"I'm not calling you that," Chris finally said.

"Call me whatever you like," the man said, "that's the truth of who I am."

"Wesker didn't know about you, did he?" Chris asked.

"No, I was kept a secret from him," the clone said. "It may have been for my protection. Wesker was a very prideful man."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Chris responded.

Jake looked at him with curiosity. "How did you know?"

"If Wesker knew he had a doppelganger, you could bet money that he would snatch him up in a heartbeat. He could have easily used him as a decoy. I for one am glad he didn't know."

Silence fell upon the men as they each considered one another. Jake wasn't sure whether to believe the man, but Chris had not raised any objections thus far. Chis, on the other hand was carefully considering this man's story. Nothing he said contradicted Chris' experiences thus far, but he did not want to take his word for it either.

"Alright," Chris said after several moments, "Assuming that everything you're saying is true, why are you still here, after all of these years?"

The clone started to grin from ear to ear. "Same as you, Chris Redfield," he said with energy, "I'm in the business of zombie killing."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Well, you're not very good at it," Jake responded.

Wesker's smile faded in an instant. "What do you mean?"

"You don't know about the lame-brains walking around up there?" Jake said. "They almost killed us on our way in."

"No, that's not possible," Wesker said, heading over to a computer monitor on his left. "I lead them all back here. I was about to douse the bodies in flames before you two showed up."

"Yeah, well, you missed a couple," Chris said, confirming Jake's previous statement. In the subtlest manner, Chris placed his hand on the handle of his survival knife, ready to draw at a moment's notice.

The clone furiously typed in codes and programs into his computer as Chris and Jake re-told the story of their narrow escape from the night before. Both men kept interrupting each other to add more to the story. Wesker had to stop them to request that only one of them tell the story, as he was getting confused about the order of events. Jake went ahead and told the rest of it since he was conscious the whole time. He made sure to mention the Cerberus creature and his heroic rescue of Chris.

After failing to make the proper calculations on his computer, Wesker grabbed a clipboard nearby and started doing them furiously by hand.

"Wait, wait, wait," Chris said after they finished their story, "how the hell are there STILL zombies here? If you have been here killing them the whole time and there have been two explosions, they should be gone. Not only that, but the BSAA did a sweep of the area every couple of years."

Wesker avoided eye contact after Chris' question. "Um…don't be mad," he said timidly.

"Oh, it's too late for that," Chris said, tightening his grip on the handle of his knife.

The Wesker clone stopped writing, put his clipboard down and turned towards Jake and Chris, still avoiding eye contact. He wrung his hands as he spoke.

"I may or may not have been creating zombies too."

Chris did not need any more motivation. He took a step forward and grabbed the clone by the throat before the man could defend himself. Soon the man was lifted several inches off the ground by Chris' death grip. He was struggling and gasping for air.

Chris drew him in close to his face, his nose almost touching Wesker's. "What did you say?"

The clone tried to respond, muttering incoherent words between gasping and sputtering.

"Chris, put him back down," Jake said, "We won't find out anything else if he's dead. It seems like there is a lot more going on here than what we just uncovered. We have to find out more."

Knowing that Jake was right, Chris decided to put the clone down, but not before tightening his grip as he lowered him back to the ground.

Clone-Wesker doubled over and was gasping for air. He caressed his own throat where Chris had held him, as if rubbing it would help him to breathe again. When he finally could catch his breath, he did not stand. He only sat on the floor.

 _Pathetic._ Chris thought.

"You're walking a thin line now, buddy," Jake said. "Either you spill everything right now, or both Chris and I will take turns beating on you."

Wesker kept his head down and continued to tend to his throat as he explained the situation. "Beyond that door," he pointed to the electronic door that supposedly lead to more laboratory rooms, "there were several experiments that Umbrella didn't even keep on file. I've been able to keep them locked up for the past twenty years. I would study them, learn their weaknesses, and then kill them off, one by one. It has taken such a long time. I am on my own and Umbrella was trying to make creatures that were indestructible."

"So you're killing off the monsters," Jake said. "That doesn't explain why you had to make zombies."

"One of the greatest weaknesses of these creatures is that they all fight anything that moves. At first, I used the zombies that survived the Raccoon City Incident, but they eventually ran out. I had to use anyone who would accidentally come across this facility and inject them with the Tyrant Virus. Most of them are Umbrella fanatics who wanted souvenirs or to find left over experiments."

Jake turned towards Chris. "I can't be mad about that."

"Regardless of their intentions, they were still innocent people." Without warning, Chris gave Wesker a kick to the stomach. "You're playing God, Wesker. Just like your 'predecessor' did."

Wesker writhed on the ground, clutching his stomach. "I can't say I didn't deserve that," he said in pain. "But I made a choice not to reveal this place to anyone. And I made a choice that the sacrifice of the few would lead to the salvation of the many. What do you think would have happened if I wasn't here to protect this place?"

Despite his anger towards the man before him, Chris let his imagination run wild. If experiments such as the Tyrant, or even Uroboros were here, unchecked…

 _It would be a disaster._

"There could have been a better way," Chris said, refusing to acknowledge that this Wesker doppelganger was right.

"If you need zombies so bad, why are you killing them off now?" Jake asked.

"I'm almost done," Clone-Wesker said, still clutching his stomach, but sitting up. "There are two left, and they are smarter than the rest. They know I use zombies as bait, so the 'lame-brains,' as you call them, are useless now."

"There had to have been thousands of zombies, just in that room we just passed through," Jake said, "how were there so many?"

"I made sure not to dispose of any of them until I was sure I did not need them anymore. Those are all of the zombies I have collected over the years."

Jake turned towards Chris. "The BSAA does one hell of a job – for twenty years they missed a whole horde of zombies."

"Again, that was my doing," Wesker said. "I made sure to keep the zombies locked in the labs while they were here. I have tools here that will scramble military equipment."

"I read those reports," Chris said, "they thought they couldn't get a read because of the radiation. They did a manual sweep of the area, but they still should have found that cabin."

"I only built that in the last year," Wesker said. "I knew I was getting close to the end and I wanted something more…homey than a laboratory."

Jake looked at Wesker's clone dead on. "You're a strange person."

"I've had nothing but the company of zombies and bio-organic weapons the past couple of decades. I dare you to do the same and come out normal." His tone was not malicious, but more so a statement of fact. It was as if to say that if anyone were alone and fighting demons most of their life, they would not have a full set of tools in their toolbox...so to speak.

Wesker finally stood up, still holding his stomach, wincing in pain as he rose to his feet. Every now and then he would caress his neck. Chris couldn't help but wonder if he was regretting his decision to let the two of them in.

"We're getting off track," Chris said. "How did the zombies get out to begin with?"

Wesker turned to look at the electronic door on the other side of the room. "The two BOW's in there did it. They got into the system and let the zombies out while I was in the next town over shopping for groceries." He looked at the door as if he was in awe of the creatures, both impressed by and fearful of their intelligence. Wesker turned back around to face the two men before him.

Chris gave him a questioning look.

"I use a clever combination of disguises to keep my identity a secret," he said in answer to Chris' unspoken question. "I'm not out for very long, either."

Chris almost laughed as he imagined Wesker dressed up in various costumes. The man more than deserved to be humiliated. Chris did everything he could to keep a straight face.

"I've since locked down the computer system," clone-Wesker continued, "so that everything can be controlled from this room only. The two BOW's are behind that door, but free to roam around from room to room. Since they would be the bigger problem, and I had no means of getting rid of them just yet, I decided to lure the zombies back with fresh meat into the area you guys came through. I thought I got them all, but apparently, I missed a few."

Chris was overwhelmed with how much information he had gotten from just the past half hour. Wesker had a clone, who seemed to be a pathetic nerd, but with the same philosophy as the real Wesker about playing with people's lives. Such a philosophy was dangerous. As much as he wanted to kill him, Chris needed this man alive. He had too much information about Umbrella that cannot be unchecked. If the man was being honest about his lack of upgrades, then Chris would use him to rid the two monsters waiting behind the electronic doors and then take him to the BSAA for questioning. He would also be questioning the search parties who missed so much during their sweeps.

"So," Chris said, "What was your plan to get rid of these things?"

Wesker wrung his hands once more. "Um…I'm not sure."

Jake swore loudly. "Are you kidding me? You've had twenty years to figure this out, and you're _not_ _sure_?"

"Can we just throw a grenade in there? Blow them up?" Chris asked.

"Yes," Wesker said sarcastically, "'Cause that worked so well the first time. And the second time."

Chris shot him a glare. "You have no right to sass right now. Remember, you're on thin ice."

"Sorry," Wesker said. "Believe me, I've considered all possibilities. They are just too smart for that. Out of all the creatures Umbrella created, these two are the most intelligent."

"So what exactly are we dealing with?" Chris asked.

Wesker's grin returned once more. He moved over to the computer and started pulling up files on the screen. "I'm glad you asked," he said with glee.

Chris thought the man looked suspiciously happy, especially since his life could end at any given moment.

"I've been studying these creatures for years now. Since Umbrella didn't have any files, I had to put these together." He paused his work and looked around at Chris and Jake. "It's so nice to finally show someone the fruits of my labor."

"I don't know about fruits," Jake said under his breath, "but he's definitely a nut."

Wesker continued as if Jake had said nothing. He pulled up two pictures on the screen. Both Jake and Chris stared in awe and fear of the images they saw.

The clone stepped aside from the monitor, holding his hand up as if he was showing off the pictures on a showcase.

"Allow me to introduce you to Umbrella's lost legends."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"I thought you said there were two left," Jake said as he gazed upon the pictures Wesker had brought up on the computer screen. Chris thoroughly looked over the images, looking for two monsters. He was with Jake – he could only see one.

The BOW looked like it could have been a body builder in its past life. Large muscles bulged under its white skin, making it look like it had been blown up like a balloon. Veins could be seen weaving their way between muscles and tendons. A large grotesque face looked angry with malice in every picture. A white surgical mask came over its mouth, hiding what horror may lie behind it. His black hair was wild and only added to the perception that the creature was insane. He wore cut-off tan shorts and a black shirt that revealed most of his muscular body. Chris thought it looked like an albino muscle-man, but he had to do a double-take when he saw the arms.

Everything was normal down to its elbows, but from there, a black, slime-like substance took over for its hands. The various images showed that the hands could shape shift into any design: blades, hammers, and one picture even showed the black mass as a wrench shape.

"No, there are two there," Wesker said. He had been silent for a few moments, letting them observe the images before them. "The hands are a separate entity altogether."

"You're kidding…" Jake said, amazed.

"No," Wesker said, "Unfortunately, I'm not."

"How effective are those weapons?" Chris asked, pointing to the blade and hammer that the black slime had molded. He was already collecting information to defeat it. This may have been one of the few times he was forewarned about a monster. He was going to take full advantage of the opportunity.

"Surprisingly effective," Wesker said. His enthusiasm was starting to annoy Chris. "Just to illustrate its ability, it took one of the zombies I sent in there and disassembled it piece by piece. It could shape-shift into a scalpel and cut through the flesh like a hot knife through butter. Another time, it changed into a sledge hammer and put a dent into one of the electronic doors. It didn't break through, but it definitely did some damage."

The three of them sat in silence once more. Wesker was at the ready to answer more questions. When none came, he looked at Chris, excitement in his eyes.

"Do you recognize the hands?" he asked, rocking on his feet.

"Yes, but I'm afraid to say it," Chris said.

"That monster there was a precursor to Uroboros," clone-Wesker said. "The real Albert Wesker invested a lot of his time on that project. I remember the researchers talking about it when they were trying to administer upgrades to me. They said he would go for days without sleep trying to perfect it."

"He must have spent years on the Uroboros project," Chris said. "I bet he was pretty upset when it blew up in his face."

Jake cleared his throat. When Chris looked his way, Jake gave him a look that shot daggers at him.

"Sorry," Chris said quickly. "No pun intended."

"I recognize the other one," Jake said, moving past Chris' jab at his father.

"You do?" Wesker asked, excited to learn more about the BOW.

"Yeah. It's a little different, but that white one looks just like the Ustanak monster, or whatever. That guy who chased Sherry and me all over the place."

"Neo-Umbrella sent a monster after you?" Wesker asked him, obviously confused. "I remember the old Umbrella didn't do that unless you were a very significant threat. What made you so important?"

Jake and Chris shared a look. At that moment, they realized that the clone may not have known Jake's significance.

"Um…Al," Jake said carefully. "Do you know who I am?"

"Well, since we've only met just now, I've gathered that your name is Jake. You were in Chris' company while you were exploring my zombie-killing room, so I can only imagine you're his new partner after Piers Nivans was killed."

Chris felt a pang of hurt at the mention of his old partner's name.

 _Can't think about that now_.

Jake was astounded.

Pushing down the thoughts before they flooded his mind, Chris snapped back to reality fairly quickly. "That's something else I have been meaning to ask you," he said, his tone growing more accusatory as he spoke. "How the hell do you know so much about me?"

Clone-Wesker smiled. "I have access to all of Umbrella's top computer systems. I've hacked into the BSAA network from here. All it took was just one of your employees checking his social media on a BSAA computer, and I was in. I have access to all the information that goes to lower-level agents. Unfortunately, I can't get through the higher-level access."

"Unfortunately?" Chris said, brow raised.

"I like to keep myself aware," Wesker said, shrugging his shoulders.

"That'll have to stop," Chris said sharply.

"Hey, I used those files to help me kill half of these creatures. I don't regret learning what I know." Wesker turned back towards Jake. "You never answered my question from before. What made you so special?"

Jake and Chris shared a look once more. Chris tried to convey a look of submission: he wanted to let Jake make the decision on whether to tell clone-Wesker about his identity.

"I was just kicking ass and taking names," Jake said, getting Chris' message. "I was a threat because I took so many of them down."

Wesker shrugged and went back to the files on the monitor.

Chris wasn't sure if he bought Jake's answer, but he wasn't about to push the issue.

"Anyway," clone-Wesker said, "The real Wesker used to call that black one Alice. I don't know if that was a high school crush of his or what, but that's the name I put on its file. The white one used to be a good friend of mine named Dave."

"You don't care that you've been studying how to kill your friend for the past two decades?" Chris asked.

"There's a reason I saved him for last," Wesker said. "I really had to know that Dave was beyond saving. Plus, like I said before: I would rather have the sacrifice of the few to save the many, even if that means killing a friend."

Chris made a mental note to never fully trust the man.

"So," he said, trying to get back to the topic of monsters, "What are Alice and Dave's weaknesses?" Giving human names to such creatures sent a chill down Chris' spine. He didn't like humanizing them.

Wesker raised his finger and opened his mouth like he was about to give a lecture on the subject. Instead he stuttered, put his hand back down and said, "I don't know."

"What?" Jake and Chris said in unison.

"The only thing I know for sure," Wesker said quickly, "Is that they work better as a team. Alice makes up for Dave's lack of arms, and Dave helps her move more quickly. Don't get me wrong, that bitch can sneak up on you and take you down on her own, but if you know she's coming, you can outrun her. Dave can outrun any man. She'll attach to his body and hitch a ride to catch up to you."

Wesker shivered in fear and excitement.

"There's got to be some kind of weakness," Chris said. "There always is at least one thing."

"With Ustanak," Jake offered, "it was his heart that finally did him in. Sherry and I shot at his exposed heart and he was finally done. And that's after he swam through molten lava."

"So we have to somehow expose Dave's heart to kill him?" Chris asked.

"That's a possibility," Wesker said, thinking aloud, "I'm sure the skin on the Ustanak creature you mentioned had been upgraded. If Dave is just a prototype, then he should be weaker."

"How much weaker?" Jake asked. "'Cause we pumped the other one full of lead and that would just knock him down for a while."

"I can't say for sure," Wesker said. "Every time I shot at him, Alice would turn into some kind of shield."

"Maybe Alice is the bigger threat," Chris said. "I have a feeling that she's the brains of the operation too."

"What makes you say that?" Jake asked.

"Just a hunch."

Chris had almost twenty years of experience fighting zombies and BOW's. Every time the creatures would work cooperatively, it was because they were either being controlled, or they were all after a common enemy. He thought back to the Uroboros project. When the parasite was rejected, the black mass of tentacles would feed off the host long enough to find a new source of energy. When the parasite was accepted, as it was with the real Wesker, the host had full control over it. Chris had never considered the parasite could keep a host alive and control it to do its bidding…until now.

"If Alice is anything like Uroboros," Chris offered, "then we just have to keep hitting her until her weakness is exposed. The Uroboros monsters had organs that they would cover to try and protect. Once we hit them with fire, they would try to keep their organs away from the flames by holding them away, outside their bodies."

"Ah!" Wesker said, excited. "That makes sense." It was as if all of his research on the creatures finally came together with Chris' insight.

"I thought you had BSAA files," Chris said, "Wouldn't you know this already?"

Wesker looked at him, eyebrows raised. "Have you ever read a military report before?"

"…Yes."

"To scientists they read, 'we went in, killed them, and got out.' What I found useful about them was that you guys described what the monsters looked like and how they attacked."

Chris thought the man had a point. When he got back from Africa, the last thing he wanted to do was re-live that nightmare. He was as concise as possible on his reports.

"There's no question about it, then," Jake said, trying to get the group back on track, "we have to split them up." He turned towards Wesker. "What have you tried so far?"

"As you already know, I tried shooting at them with various weapons," he answered. "That didn't work. I tried cutting off their food supply, but somehow, they can feed off the dead zombies I sent in as bait. They've stored up enough food now to last them a couple more months. In that time, I think they were hoping to find a way out of the labs."

"Do you have any blueprints of the labs?" Chris asked. "I'd like to know what I'm getting into."

"Oh, yes, of course," Wesker said as he started to type furiously on the computer again.

He pulled up a map of the labs. Over the next several minutes, he explained the layout. It was just one floor, underground. Wesker started in the room they were in now, calling it the surveillance room. He worked past the first set of electronic doors. They opened to reveal a long hallway with two large rooms on the left, and one large room on the right. Wesker described these as the research areas. He quickly described how the first one housed chemical equipment, the second one was where bio-organic research was done, and the room on the right was dedicated to housing weapons.

"It was not an armory per-se," Wesker said about the weapon room, "but it was there to help researchers design indestructible creatures."

Jake swore. "No wonder these things are so hard to beat."

Wesker continued to show the blueprints. The first hallway ended with another set of double doors. Past here, the hallway curved right and opened to reveal a hallway with several rooms that looked like prison cells on both sides. The cells added up to twenty – ten on each side.

"That's where Dave and Alice like to hang out," Wesker said. "I don't know how, but they were able to get through the electronic doors and get into the bio-lab. It was from there that Alice could hack into the main system and let all the zombies out into this room. I had time enough to lock them out of the system, close these doors, and then run outside. I led the zombies away, double-backed here, and baited them into my killing room."

"Why isn't the killing room on the blue prints?" Jake asked.

"I started building it when I inherited the labs," Wesker answered. "I figured I would be the only one here, so I didn't need to add it to the original blueprints. Please note it is in an inconvenient spot."

"Why didn't you build it on the other side? Past the cells?" Chris asked.

Wesker pointed to the end of the second hallway. "This is where this lab ends and a tunnel that connects us to the Mansion starts. Due to the explosions, the tunnel has collapsed. I didn't want to be exposed to radiation, so I built the room on this side. PLUS," he said, adding emphasis, "I would have to traverse zombie-infested laboratory rooms to get there. It was safer to do it this way."

Chris looked at him, a questioning expression on his face. "How many of these things have you killed exactly?"

Wesker stood up tall with pride. "All of those cells were filled," he said.

"Eighteen?" Jake said with awe. "That's one BOW per year. You must be tired of this."

"I am ready to be done killing, yes. But the research was fascinating."

There was a small moment of silence as they Wesker's words hang in the air. Chris wanted to know what this man would have done if he had been able to kill these creatures on his own. Would he stay here and study ways to make more BOW's? Would the genetic predispositions kick in that made the real Wesker believe that he should force evolution upon humanity?

 _One step at a time,_ he thought.

He looked at both men in front of him, wearing his title as Captain for the first time on this adventure.

"Let's get to work."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Before we get started…Jake, can I talk to you privately?" Chris asked.

Wesker looked from Jake to Chris and back again. He stood there awkwardly as he looked around the room. Both men followed his gaze as they realized that there was no where they could go that would be out of earshot from Wesker.

"I'll uh, just go into the zombie-killing room," he finally said.

"It stinks really bad in there," Jake said. "You might die."

"Nonsense," said Wesker, "I'm used to the smell."

"Not so fast," Chris said as the clone took steps towards the door. Wesker winced in anticipation of another kick. It never came. "I don't fully trust you yet. How do we know you won't lock us in here and run off?"

"Oh!" Wesker said, as if a lack of trust was the least of his issues. "I'll set it up so that you can see me on camera." He walked back towards the computer and pulled up the live camera feed for the adjacent room. Several videos showed the pile of zombies that Chris and Jake had just traversed getting to the labs. The piles looked less gruesome on video than they did up close.

When Chris was satisfied that he could see every inch of the room via camera, he agreed to let Wesker wait there. The clone showed them which button to press to let him back in. He also decided to show the intercom button, just in case.

"Aren't you afraid we'll light the room on fire?" Jake asked as Wesker was stepping through the threshold.

Wesker laughed. "If you wanted me dead, I'm sure I would be dead already."

With that, the door closed. Chris and Jake were by themselves.

Chris was very aware of the threats behind each door.

He watched the cameras closely until he could see Wesker. The clone had pulled his shirt up over his nose, just as they had done coming in. He started to pace – most likely to distract himself from the overwhelming stench of rotting corpses.

"What's up, Chris? Got cold feet?" Jake said jokingly.

"No, not quite," Chris answered seriously. "Both you and I just took in a lot of information. I want to make sure that we are on the same page."

"And what page is that?"

Chris pulled out his phone and held it up to show Jake. "I could have a whole army here in an hour. Is it worth it to risk our lives to keep Wesker's clone a secret?"

"You know he won't go for that," Jake said, eyeing the phone. "Plus, I already told you, _my_ safety is on the line. You call your boys, I'll be detained."

"We can leave him in there 'til he passes out from the fumes, I'll call 'my boys,' and then you would have an hour to get out of here."

Jake lowered his voice, even though he knew the clone couldn't hear them. "Wesker knows we don't fully trust him. What if he's not telling us everything? What if there's a third monster in there that will take us by surprise? Or maybe he knows something about Neo-Umbrella we could use, but he's keeping it secret for blackmail later?"

Chris looked disappointed. "Jake…" he pointed at his phone, "…army. If there is a third or even fourth monster in there, I'd have more back up that I'd know what to do with. And I'm not planning to kill him. I'm taking him back to the BSAA for questioning, whether I have an army with me or not."

"Are you kidding?" Jake asked, "This guy devotes half his life to making sure these things don't get out, and you're going to making him live the rest of his life in custody? That seems cruel to me."

Chris started to get angry. "You were the one who just said that he could be plotting something! What's really going on here, Jake?"

Jake became very agitated, caught in his own contradictions. He turned heel and started pacing the room.

Chris couldn't help but appreciate the irony that both the Wesker clone and Jake were pacing as a means of distraction.

 _Must run in the family._

"I'll admit it," Jake said as he paced, "earlier when we were coming down the trap door, it was different. I mean, I've been on mercenary assignments since China, but this was the first time where I had no clue what I was getting into. I never cared about the unknown before. You could even say that I really could care less whether I lived or died. But now that I have someone to go back to…something to fight for…"

Chris knew exactly what he was talking about. Jake had a very strong friendship with Sherry, at the very least. He was sure that was the first relationship Jake had since losing his mother that meant something to him. Every time he is away, he's probably thinking about getting back to her.

It's the same feeling Chris has about Jill.

"But I'm even willing to put that on the line for this," Jake said. He stopped pacing and looked intensely at Chris.

"Jake…" Chris started, knowing what his comrade was thinking, "This man is _not_ your father."

"Don't you think I know that?!" Jake shouted. "Yeah, this is happening fast, and I barely know the guy. But it's the closest thing I have to a dad right now, and as far as I can tell, he's crazy, but better than the real Wesker. He doesn't want to kill people…he wants to save them."

"This is ridiculous-"

"Is it?" Jake interrupted. "If a clone of Piers came walking through that door, would you want to take him in for questioning?"

Chris lowered his voice. "That's not the same," he said angrily.

"It's not?" Jake said, "Piers injected himself with a virus, which by your book, is just as bad as murder."

"He had a good reason to do it!" Chris shouted. He could feel his anger boiling up inside him.

"To save your pathetic ass!"

Chris couldn't stop himself if he tried. His body was already in motion before he realized what he was doing. He launched himself at Jake and threw the hardest punch he could muster at him.

Jake spun when he took the hit and fell over. He could get up on all fours, but he was taking a moment to collect himself.

"I'm sorry…" Chris started, his anger gone. He never wanted to hurt the kid. He just…never grieved Piers properly.

Before Chris had time to help Jake back to his feet, Jake had stood up, spun around, and had drawn his gun. The barrel was a mere few inches from Chris' face. He had a flashback to the underwater facility off the coast of China. That's where Jake had held him at gunpoint the first time.

Chris raised his hands, not in surrender, but out of guilt. "I'm so sorry Jake. I just saw red, and…and that was it."

"Here's how it's going to go," Jake said, nothing but anger left in his voice. "I'm not going to kill you right now. Sherry is too fond of you and I care too much for her to do that. But I want you to know that if you cross me again, I will have no more reservations about killing you. You, me, and the Wesker clone are going to take out those two monsters together. He's not going to leave unless those things are gone. After we finish cleaning up here, I'm going to lock you in that death room. Wesker and I will get an hour head start, as you say. You can call in your boys to clean up the rest of the zombies, and then you can go home."

As he spoke, he grabbed Chris' cell phone from his pocket. Chris made no move to get it back.

Jake held up the phone. "You can get this back when we're done."

Some of Chris' anger returned, but he still kept his feet grounded. "Both of your faces are posted everywhere. Even Sherry knows what Wesker looks like. You won't be able to live a normal life at all."

"You forget that I'm used to that type of lifestyle," Jake said. "You let me worry about that. You just have to worry about your own ass until those monsters are gone."

"Alright, Jake," Chris said, "as long as you know what you are getting yourself into. This guy could be a carbon copy of the real Albert Wesker."

"Just so that I know you won't try anything, I'm going to make you a promise," Jake said, pushing the gun closer to Chris' face. "If he dies, you die. No questions asked."

"You know that's not fair," Chris said. He was struggling to keep his anger at bay.

"It's either that, or I blow your head off right now," Jake said.

Chris couldn't help but stare down the barrel. The kid didn't kill him the first time he held a gun to his head. Would he now?

He didn't want to leave it up to chance. "Fine. It's a deal."

Jake holstered his weapon and Chris lowered his arms. He couldn't help but feel betrayed.

Chris had thought that they were growing closer – both were on a similar journey. Jake even asked him about his father just the night before. Had he lost his respect for him, just in a short period?

Chris had no idea what living as a mercenary was like. Living job to job, never really trusting anyone. Not only that, but Jake lost his mother at a young age, and his father was a psychopath that abandoned him. One would think that the kid's attitude would change after meeting Sherry, someone he could finally trust. Maybe it was more difficult than that. Maybe people don't change.

Still, Jake's behavior was inexcusable. Chris wanted nothing more than to be done with this self-assigned mission so that he could go home and have nothing to do with Jake again. He should have known that this whole trip was going to be a nightmare.

"Let's bring him back in and make a plan," Jake said, opening the doors.

Chris shot him a nasty glare. "Let's just get the hell out of here."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Wesker ran back into the room as soon as he saw the doors open. He didn't even wait for a space large enough to fit his body: he squeezed through, coughing and gagging. The clone fell on all fours as he tried to catch his breath again. Jake hit the button again to close the doors before the smell could diffuse into the control room.

"Well, that was unpleasant," Wesker said after his fit. He stood up slowly, looking as if he could go back into a coughing fit at any moment. "Don't get me wrong," he said as he rose to his feet, "I appreciate that you didn't set the room on fire, but during those last few minutes, it would have been a better alternative to the smell."

Chris wanted to use the opportunity to make fun of Wesker, but for fear of setting off Jake's anger, he refrained. He looked over at Jake to see if maybe he would say something. The kid had his back turned, looking at the images of Dave and Alice again.

Wesker took notice of the high emotions.

"You could cut the tension in here with a knife," he said. "I wasn't gone for that long…"

"Don't worry about it," Jake said as he turned around.

Wesker's face was overcome with concern. "What happened to your eye?"

"I said don't worry about it," Jake said fiercely, turning his face away again.

The clone looked at Chris, who then shrugged. If Jake didn't want to tell Wesker that he just got sucker punched, then that was all right with him.

"How do you suppose we go about this?" Chris asked both men.

They all brainstormed ideas back and forth. One of Jake's primary ideas was attempting to lure them into the zombie-killing room and just setting them on fire. Chris was against it. As a tactician, he saw an issue with bringing intelligent monsters into the control room. If they somehow were oblivious to the fact that they could take over everything from there, and then continued into a corpse-ridden killing room, they would be too close to the surface.

Wesker agreed. He had worked so hard to keep the control room the first time it was flooded with zombies – he didn't want to risk it again.

"How do we separate them, then?" Jake asked.

The clone went back over the computer and pulled up another set of cameras. Five squares filled the screen: two showed different angles of the same hallway. Three of them showed static.

"The three cameras here are out, courtesy of Alice," Wesker said. "I don't know why she left the other two up. This is the hallway where the twenty BOW's were stored. I can control the cells from here."

Chris looked closely at the video feed. It looked like a prison, but all the cell doors were open. The view was limited: he could only see fully into four of the cells, and they were the cells closest to the cameras. It was an extreme disadvantage, but still better than no live feed at all. There were no monsters in sight.

"Why are the doors open?" Chris asked.

Wesker sighed. "Once I let Alice and Dave out to try and lure them with bait, they refused to go back into a cell. There was one time I was able to catch Dave when he was just wondering around, but there are manual locks on the outside of each cell. Alice let him out. I hadn't bothered with it since."

Jake's face lit up. "I know how we can split them up," he said.

He let the tension build before his next statement. Chris was annoyed, but Wesker gave into the anticipation. He waved his hand as if the motion would draw Jake's idea out of him. The kid finally gave his answer.

"Live bait."

Chris looked at him with confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Before, it was just Wesker here, so he had to stay behind these doors," Jake said excitedly. "Now there are three of us. One can stay here, and the other two can bait the monsters into two separate cells. Once they're in there, the person here can close the cell doors, trapping the monsters. After that, we can let them out, one at a time."

Both Chris and Wesker gave him a look of incredulity.

Chris saw so many flaws in that plan. First of all, how was the person to escape the cell once the monster was inside? Secondly, who would they keep in the control room? There was no trust amongst any of them. Thirdly –

"Brilliant!" Wesker shouted, interrupting his thoughts.

"I'd rather try the 'trap them in the killing room' plan," Chris said, amazed that Wesker, a proud scientist, bought into such a foolhardy idea.

"No, no," Wesker said, running to the opposite side of the room. "I have the perfect thing for this." He was halfway across the room when he shouted back, "this way!"

Chris was about to share a confused look with Jake when he remembered the threat Jake place upon his life just a few moments ago.

Instead, he took off after Wesker.

When he caught up, Wesker was holding what looked like a net.

"I'm going to be honest with you and say that I don't know what Alice is made of," the clone said when Jake came over. "That made it difficult to find a way to defeat her. With that being said, I have studied her behavior and she tends to avoid items made from lead."

Jake looked skeptical. "Lead?" he said, arms crossed.

Wesker nodded, eyebrows raised to convey that he was just as surprised. "And I can't tell you why."

"That would have been helpful had you mentioned that when I asked about weaknesses," Chris said, showing his irritation.

"I don't know if it's a weakness," the clone said. "I just know that she goes out of her way to avoid touching it."

"So you made a net?" Jake asked, skepticism growing. "You made a net out of lead to catch something that can shape shift into anything?"

Wesker's face fell in defeat. Chris would have sworn the man was about to cry. "Well, I didn't get to try it yet," he said. When the two men before him refused to give him reassurance, the clone stood up straight once more. "I'll tell you it will definitely slow her down," he said. "We lead her to the cell, throw this over her, and then run out while she's struggling. The door will be closed before she even knows what is going on."

"And Dave?" Chris asked. "What do you have to distract Dave?"

"Nothing," Wesker said plainly. "The guy is powerful, but if he's separated from Alice, he loses his main weapons. I could dodge him and run out the door, easy."

"That means you get to take on Dave," Jake said. He took the net from Wesker and shoved it at Chris with more force than necessary. Chris winced in pain. "And old gimpy here will take on Alice."

"You're going to be here in the control room?" Wesker said, concern in his voice. "You don't know what half these buttons do!"

"An old man once told me, 'never give your best weapon to your worst soldier.'" Chris glared at Jake as he threw his own advice back into his face. "I don't trust either of you enough to leave you in control of everything. And truth be told, I have the best chance out of the three of us for surviving this. It'll better to leave me with a head start in case things start to go south."

For the first time since meeting the man, Chris saw anger in the Wesker-clone's face. It was a familiar expression, but it was strange to see it now, so many years after killing the real Wesker.

It looked like the man was about to punch Jake in his other eye, but he held back. The whole situation felt surreal to Chris. Had this man been the real Albert Wesker, Jake would have been dead. What kept the clone from hurting Jake?

Better yet, what kept him from killing the men when they stepped into his death chamber?

Suddenly, a large pounding noise could be heard coming from the computer. Before Chris even had time to think about the possibilities, Wesker was already running back towards the monitor. Jake and Chris followed in pursuit.

"No, no, no…" Wesker was muttering to himself as the other two men caught up. He was watching the live camera feed.

Chris saw the two-for-one monster in the hallway, beating on the wall. Every time they landed a blow, the black slime named Alice would shape-shift into a different weapon. Knives, hammers, maces, and so many more shapes would leave large dents in the wall between the first two cells.

"She's showing off," Wesker said. "I think she knows I have friends now."

The beast was more menacing on camera than the still pictures Chris had seen before. For the first time since finding out about the BOWs, Chris Redfield was scared.

Without warning, the beast stopped hitting the wall. It turned slowly until it was facing the front camera. Chris saw large, red eyes that made him feel like his very soul was exposed. The monster took one step, and then another. Each movement was slow, but deliberate. Finally, he was just underneath the camera. They all watched in fear and awe as it raised a black, slimy arm and swung. As the arm descended, the beast let out a vicious growl.

The feed went dead.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"I will be so happy when those things are gone," Wesker said, still looking at the static on the camera feed. "It's been almost twenty years of this. It's about time that they are gone."

"Then let's do this," Jake said.

Wesker no longer protested Jake's plan. The taunting from Dave and Alice was enough to build his resolve to go fight them. He went over to the kid and started showing him how to control the labs.

Chris walked away from the men as they spoke. He needed time to think about his strategy, for not only killing the monsters, but taking Wesker into custody.

He rubbed his face, feeling his stubble, and making a mental note that he should shave soon. That is, if he had the chance to shave after the next few hours. Chris felt so angry. He was angry with himself for trusting Jake, for losing focus, and now for trusting a man who had the same genetic blueprints as Albert Wesker. Should he just kill them both now? He could do it. He could sneak up on them both, kill them, and then call in support.

No one would ever question him. One of these men is a carbon copy of a man hell-bent on destroying the world and the other was his son, Public Enemy No. 1 in the States. Chris had a reputation of ridding the world of madmen and their creations. This would only add to his reputation, possibly awarding him more honors.

But no, he wouldn't kill them.

Jake may have threatened his life, but could he blame the kid? All he wanted was a father – a good father to replace the crazy one he had. Both Claire and Sherry saw some good in him, and he could trust those women with his life. He would trust their judgment a bit longer, but it was wearing thin.

Wesker, on the other hand…

Chris couldn't help but get the feeling he was hiding something. He wanted nothing more but to capture him and take him in for questioning. But could he convince Jake let him do it? Could he trick Jake somehow?

He racked his brain for ideas, for any plan to make sure that everyone survived this ordeal and he could get Wesker back to the BSAA without Jake interfering.

Nothing came to mind.

"Chris, you ready?" Jake called.

"As I'll ever be, I guess," he called back.

Chris jogged back to Wesker and Jake.

"They're stuck in that hallway right now," Wesker said, pointing to the last remaining camera. Dave was pacing the length of the hallway and back as Alice enveloped his whole body. It looked like a shade gliding back and forth, getting ready to haunt.

Wesker indicated that he and Chris should stop by the weapon room before Jake opened the electronic doors to the prison.

"Nothing in that room will kill them," Wesker said as he voiced his idea, "but they will slow them down."

"That could mean the difference between life and death for us," Chris said.

"Exactly."

Wesker walked over to a table set up next to the doors. On top sat five sets of radios. He gave one to each of the men and donned one of them himself. Each radio came with a hands-free ear piece.

The equipment gave Chris a sense of familiarity. He couldn't count the amount of times he had to don a radio for his missions. The routine made him feel like this was just another BSAA assignment.

"We'll let you know when to open the double doors and when to close the cells," Wesker said. "Remember to only close the cells we call out. If you hit the master switch and close all of them at once, you may trap one, or even both of us."

"I got it man," Jake said, irritated. "It's not like you told me a thousand times already." He rolled his eyes as he got back into position behind the computer.

The kid gave a thumbs-up to indicate that he was ready.

"Just one sec," Wesker said.

The clone took off his lab coat and hung it up on a coat rack nearby. He picked up a green jacket and put it on in its place.

"That looks bad-ass," Jake called from his position.

Wesker smiled proudly. "Thank you," he said. "It was a gift."

Chris couldn't care less about the whole interaction. "You ready?" he asked, looking at Wesker.

"Let's go kill some of Umbrella's left over experiments."

With that, Jake hit the switch to open the door to the labs.

As they opened slowly, Chris felt a wave of familiar emotions: fear, anger, and excitement were all rolled up into one strong feeling. He had a flashback of the door to the lab under the Spencer Mansion. Back then, he didn't know what he was getting into.

But even knowing what lied ahead, Chris couldn't help but feel so small. Anything could happen from here.

Wesker was through the doors before Chris even had the resolve to step forward. Once he did take a step, he was ready for anything.

 _Just gotta dive in._

"This way," Wesker said as he walked down the dark hallway.

"Should've brought flashlights," Chris said. With a whirr, the doors closed behind them, only confirming his statement that additional light was needed.

"There'll be some in the weapon room," Wesker said. Without losing his stride, he took off his sunglasses so that he could see better.

After several yards, they came up to the first room on their left. Chris remembered it as the lab with chemical equipment.

"Can we check this room out?" Chris asked. He wanted to check to see if there was anything from there he could use.

"Let's get flashlights first," Wesker said. "They took out most of the lights and I didn't have replacement bulbs."

"Good idea," Chris said.

Chris thought for a moment and realized that this was the first time he was alone with the man. Jake could only hear what they told him over radio.

"Hey…Al…" Chris said, hesitantly.

Wesker smirked. "I thought you said you wouldn't call me that."

"Well, I was hoping I could ask you something."

"You can ask me anything," Wesker said, looking at him curiously. "My life is in your hands."

"How is it that you ended up different from Wesker?"

The clone looked confused. "I already told you – my DNA is similar, but still different enough for the upgrades to work."

"No, no," Chris said quickly, "I don't mean physically. I mean, why was he a madman trying to kill people and why did you devote most of your life to killing monsters?"

"Oh," Wesker said, stopping in his tracks. A wave of sadness came over his face. "George Trevor."

"The architect?" Chris asked, confused.

"Yeah, and Dave," Wesker added, "but mostly Trevor. Dave was one of the scientists trying to administer the upgrades to me. The first two times he injected me, I got so sick I almost died. He asked to stop, but they told him if he did, they would kill him and just have someone else do it. Dave thought it was better that he be put in charge, to make sure I stayed alive.

"His only confidant was Trevor, who at the time, was losing his wife and daughter to experiments." Wesker sighed heavily as he told his story, "When everything was going down, and they started to go after Trevor, he got me out. He designed the labs and the Mansion, so he could get me out the quickest." Wesker looked straight at Chris. "They both begged me not to let Umbrella get to me. I was my own man and could make my own choices."

"And you came back?" Chris said, amazed.

"I couldn't let both Dave and Trevor die in vain," Wesker said, looking away and shaking his head as if to keep tears from coming.

"Oh," was all that Chris could muster.

If his story was true, Chris understood why Wesker would have stayed at the labs for as long as he did. Had the HAOs monster still been alive after Piers died, Chris would have chased it down until it was completely erased from the world. He would chase it for twenty, fifty, or even one hundred years if that is what it took to kill it.

Chris shook the thought from his mind.

Without a word more, they pushed forward until the weapon room was on their right. Chris saw that the door was damaged, like a wrecking ball had come through, leaving a large distortion in the middle. He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to it.

"This is the set of electronic doors that Dave and Alice damaged, but couldn't get through," Wesker said, answering the question before Chris had a chance to ask it. "I don't think they know which way is the way out, which is good for us."

"Will it open like this?" Chris asked.

"One way to find out," Wesker said. He tapped his radio on in his ear. "Jake, open the weapon room."

"You got it," Jake said over both headsets.

The door whirred and started to move, but it only opened a few inches.

"Here, help me pull on it," Chris said. He wasn't sure if he could open the door on his own, especially since he was only at half strength from crashing his truck.

He wrapped his fingers around the edge of the door. Wesker did the same just below him. They both pushed with all their might. The process was slow, but they could open it just enough for the both of them to squeeze through.

"I don't think Jake will be able to close that again," Wesker said.

"Hopefully he won't have to," Chris answered. He walked to the center of the room, taking it all in.

Chris was in heaven.

Gun racks lined the walls, filled with the greatest weapons from two decades ago. If he had had this arsenal back during the Mansion Incident, Chris would have had no issues whatsoever. One wall was solely devoted to shotguns.

The first thing Wesker did was grab a set of flashlights. He handed one to Chris.

Chris took the flashlight and quickly checked to see if it worked. When it did, he put it in his pocket.

"Do these work?" Chris asked, running his hand over a grenade launcher that sat in the middle of the room.

"They should," Wesker said. "Definitely check the weapons you choose for ammo and dry gun powder," Wesker pointed to a large cabinet in the corner of the room, indicating that those items could be found there, "but these have been untouched for years."

"I don't want to bet my life on 'should,' Wesker," Chris said.

"Then let's practice," Wesker said. With that, the clone went over to the cabinet and reached behind it. He pulled out two large targets – white posters with red bulls-eyes on them. Chris laughed as he saw someone had drawn a grotesque doodle of a zombie on each poster. His laughter ceased when he realized he was laughing at someone who had worked for Umbrella.

Chris picked up as many weapons as he could hold. To his delight, he found a Samurai Edge, just like Barry's old side arm. He was very fond of the weapon: it was always reliable. Chris found a holster hanging from a hook and donned it, placing the handgun at his side. Next, he found an AK-47. He didn't really like machine guns – they drained ammo quickly and had low accuracy. He took it just in case he needed to react quickly. Finally, he found a shotgun, a Riot Gun, that he could use. The shotgun was his favorite. He had to be close range, yes, but most of the time, monsters could get close to him. A shotgun would do damage, but it would also blow them back so that Chris had enough time to escape.

After making his selections, Chris analyzed each gun carefully, making sure that on the surface, nothing was wrong with them. He looked over at Wesker to find that he also chose a Samurai Edge handgun and a Smith and Weston Magnum.

"Your hand's going to hurt after you use that Magnum," Chris said. "Those bitches have real power."

"Don't worry," Wesker said, polishing the weapon in question, "I've used it before." He was grinning ear to ear.

Chris wasn't comfortable letting this man have weapons at all. He wasn't sure if his sob-story from before was true. The only reason he wasn't dead now was because he was sure he could over-take the man in a heartbeat. Now that the clone was armed, taking him down would be a lot harder.

Wesker set up the targets when Chris indicated that he was ready.

He aimed the handgun at the doodle zombie's head and fired.

"What the hell was that?" Jake said over radio. Chris assumed he heard the gun go off from the surveillance room.

"Just practicing," Wesker said back over radio.

"A warning would have been nice," Jake said angrily.

"Hey Jake," Chris said, "We found some weapons we like, but we have to test if they still work."

"Haha…smart ass."

Now that Jake was out of range to shoot him, Chris felt comfortable making jabs at the kid again.

Chris and Wesker tried out the remainder of their weapons. Everything worked except Chris' machine gun, which jammed. He switched it for another. After he was satisfied with his selection, he moved back towards the door.

"You don't want the grenade launcher?" Wesker asked, surprised.

"I thought about it," Chris answered, hand on the door, "but this room is too small to test it, and I think the lab itself would be too small to use it. I could launch a grenade and blow both of us up."

"All good points," Wesker said, "but here, take these just in case." Wesker walked over and gave Chris two hand grenades. "I'm going to take some as well."

"I would rather have them and not need them," Chris agreed.

After attaching the grenades to his belt, Chris squeezed back through the door. He had to take some of his weapons off and push them through to the hallway first before he could fit. Wesker did the same.

Suddenly, both Chris and Wesker heard loud crashing noises, like when they were watching the monsters on camera. It was coming from the double doors at the end of the hallway, towards the cells.

"They know we're here," Wesker said.

Jake wasn't the only one who heard them testing out their weapons. Chris was angry with himself for not thinking. He and Wesker gave away their position and any element of surprise that they may have had before.

Chris drew his shotgun.

"I guess it's time."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Chris was remembered that he wanted to go check out the other rooms first to see if he could find anything else to use. At the same time, the monsters were egging him on, and he was never one to turn down a fight. They already wasted enough time just talking. The world would be a safer place without these BOWs in it.

"Here's the plan," Wesker said. "You and I will run to opposite sides of the hallway. Hopefully, they'll split up to take us both down. You take Alice, and I'll take Dave, even if that means running back."

"This seems rather complicated…" Chris started.

"You can blame Jake for that," Wesker said. "But it's too late now." Wesker got on his radio. "Jake, open the door to the cells."

Without a word back from Jake, the doors started to whirr and creak. With every inch that they moved, Chris' anticipation grew. As the doors moved to reveal the room behind them, they saw that it was pitch black. Both men took out their flashlights and held them up, trying to see into the great void.

The doors finally parted, but the monsters were not there waiting, as Chris expected. He shot a confused look at Wesker, but the clone was already inching forward. Chris followed suit.

When they made it to the threshold, Chris shinned his light to the opposite end of the hall. There, the monster named Dave had his back to them, facing the wall, beating his head against the hard cement. It was a strange sight. Chris was surprised to see that the monster's arms ended at the elbows: Alice was separated from him.

"What the…." Chris was about to ask, but his words were lost.

Wesker had shouted something, but whatever he said, it was too late. Chris was pushed forward into the darkness. As he fell, his flashlight flew from his hand, out of reach and out of sight. He stayed on the ground until his eyes adjusted to the dark. He could see his hand in front of him, but that was it. While he was waiting, he heard growls and the shuffling of feet.

As soon as he had an opportunity to run, he took it. Chris ran into one of the cells, hoping beyond hope that Alice, the black slime, followed him. He stayed low in a corner opposite the door and waited, with his lead net at the ready.

He heard more struggles and growls. Grunts from Wesker alerted him that the clone was still alive.

 _For now._

Chris felt something cool and damp move up his back. He turned quickly and realized that Alice was trying to sneak up on him from behind. He took the net and threw it on top of her.

Suddenly, Chris heard static in his ear. "Close all the cells!" Wesker shouted over radio.

Chris was stunned. Why would Wesker bark such an order without checking to see if his partner was all right? "No, don't!" he shouted, "I'm still here!"

Chris turned back around just in time to see the heavy metal door swing close. Even if he had all his strength, there was no way he could jump through the threshold before the door slammed shut.

He banged on the door with his fists.

"Let me out! I'm still here!" he shouted over and over, but to no avail.

He turned back around, leaned his back on the cold door, and slid down in despair. He was trapped.

Had Wesker planned this all along? Would he try to kill Jake now that Chris was unable to help protect him?

Before him was Alice, who was still inside the net. She would reach out to investigate the material and then pull back. It looked like a pile of black jello trying to get out of a strainer.

After several tries, Alice touched the material of the net, but she did not recoil.

Chris' heart leapt into his throat.

 _That bastard lied,_ he thought.

There was no time to be angry. Chris was locked in a cell with no escape with a vicious monster that was about to break free of her prison. The black slime weaved its way out of the net like a snake. She inched closer and closer to Chris.

He had lost his shotgun when he fell, but he still had his other two guns. He emptied full magazines at the slime, but it was no use. Alice absorbed every last bullet and pushed it out of her body. Flattened bullets lined the floor in a trail as she made her way to Chris.

The man jumped back to his feet and had his back up against the door, trying to lay his body out as flat as possible. His fear-fueled logic told him that he would be safe in such a position.

His fear betrayed him.

Alice eventually made it to his boots and made her way up his body. Chris could see nothing but black from his waist down, and it was still coming. He turned his head up in the hopes that extending his neck would somehow keep her from taking over his head. As he felt her make her way around his face, he let out a scream.

His scream was cut short when she finally enveloped his whole body.

 _Hello, Chris Redfield._

The voice was inside his head. It sent chills down his spine.

"Get out of my head!" Chris shouted aloud.

 _Oh, no. I'm here to stay. You're much more useful to me than Dave._

"Jake and Wesker will save me from you, you just wait."

 _Oh?_ The voice said, feigning surprise. _Let me show you what the scientist thinks of you._

Chris' body was out of his control. He fought the motions, but his body turned around without his permission. The heavy metal of the door had a small, heavy glass window where he could see out into the dark hallway. Through the window, Chris could see the dancing light of a flashlight moving around the doors of the other cells.

Wesker walked by the glass and shinned his light into Chris' cell. The light blinded Chris – he could not see the man's face.

"Jake," Wesker's voice said over Chris' radio. "Leave the doors shut. It's too late for Chris now."

"Shit," Jake said. "What about the other one? Is he trapped?"

"Yeah," Wesker said. "Let me come back to the surveillance room and we can figure out what to do from there."

"Okay," Jake's voice responded.

 _You see, Chris?_ The voice…Alice said. _They don't care about you. You're a goner to them now._

 _This is how I die,_ Chris thought.

 _Yes, yes it is._

After that, Chris knew nothing but darkness.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Chris awoke to find himself in his office at the BSAA North American Headquarters.

He was at his desk, which was covered with open files and papers. Chris had to peel a sticky note off his face from when he was lying on his desk. He looked around the room. The florescent lights hurt his eyes. Chris put up a hand so that he could see until his vision adjusted. After he could see clearly, he was surprised to find that everything was in its right place.

Had he dreamed the whole thing?

Chris looked at the papers before him and realized that he had fallen asleep looking at the Raccoon City files. He couldn't help but feel a strange sense of Déjà vu.

 _I remember this,_ he thought, _this is when Jill caught me looking at files._

As if on cue, Jill walked into the room.

"Hey, Partner," she said in her perfect voice. Jill looked at the files on Chris' desk, concern showing on her face. "Chris, what are you doing?"

Chris sat up straight.

"I just want to make sure there wasn't anything we missed," he lied, "Neo-Umbrella is probably looking at anything to get back into the game. I want to beat them to the punch." He offered a small smile, but Jill saw right passed it. She was always able to read him better than anyone. He hated lying to her, but he didn't know how to explain the real reasons behind his journey.

"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked.

"No, you've got your work here. I'm taking my vacation early this year."

"That's one hell of a vacation," she said, arms crossed.

"Well, you know me," Chris said, trying to make his smile more convincing, "I'm not happy if I'm not working."

Jill became solemn. "Just promise me you'll come back in one piece, partner."

Chris shot up from his chair and Jill jumped back in surprise.

He gave her a confused look.

"We've had this conversation before," he said.

Jill looked just as confused. "No…" She started. "Well, I've asked you about the files before, but this is the first time you told me you were thinking about going out there."

"We definitely had this conversation," Chris said, "and I went to the city…"

"Chris," Jill said, as if he was a raving lunatic, "You've been here the past three months. You haven't gone anywhere."

"But I remember…" Chris started. He moved out from behind his desk and started pacing. "I met up with Jake there…and he was a jerk." He became angry as he remembered the series of events. "I trusted him and he held a gun to my head. And then Wesker…" Chris stopped pacing and looked right at Jill. "Wesker has a clone! He's a nerd, but still evil."

"Now you're spewing nonsense, Chris," Jill said. Her composure and voice went back to that of concern. "Maybe you've been working too hard. Let's go get lunch."

He paused for a moment, trying to rack his brain for memories. "Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea," Chris said. He wanted to figure out why his dream seemed so real, but he could use food. His stomach was screaming in hunger.

Chris was somewhat relieved that the whole incident had just been a dream. Maybe Raccoon City was just a wasteland, no monsters, or clones. He didn't have to worry about trusting a Wesker look-alike or Jake Muller. All he had to worry about was what he was going to eat for lunch.

He just didn't understand why Jill had dismissed him so quickly. Usually she tries to understand where he is coming from before she talks him down.

Chris eyed her suspiciously as they took the elevator to the lobby. The conversation they just had didn't seem to faze her at all. Her face was stone cold. She only got like that when she was on a mission and had a goal in mind. Maybe she was very hungry as well and just wanted to get lunch.

Jill led him out of the BSAA building past security. Chris waved to the overweight guard as he always did, but the guard didn't wave back. Instead, he gave him a nasty glare as they walked by.

"What's his problem?" Chris asked when he and Jill were out of earshot.

"Hard day, I guess," Jill answered, unconcerned.

"I've known Gary for five years now," Chris said, protesting. "I've never seen him in a sour mood."

Jill just shrugged.

Chris turned back to look at Gary one more time. When he did, Gary's whole composure had changed: he was smiling and waving at Chris as they walked away.

 _That's strange,_ Chris thought. He decided against voicing his worry to Jill. She already thought that he was crazy and she didn't give a damn. Her attitude made Chris feel small.

Chris and Jill walked down the street, heading to their favorite café a block down. He didn't have the best memory, but Chris didn't recognize any of the shops that they passed. He didn't recall exactly what the stores were, but he vaguely remembered a pet store and an electronics store on the way there.

Instead, one side of the street was fully lined with pet shops and the other side was full of electronic stores. The names of the shops were unlisted.

Chris watched the people as they walked by, in the hopes of getting some explanation as to what was going on.

Every last person they passed looked exactly the same.

It didn't matter if it was a man or woman; each person had the same eyes, hair, nose. The only thing that differed amongst the pedestrians was their clothing.

 _This isn't real,_ Chris thought. _I'm dreaming right now._

He stopped in his tracks.

"What's the matter now?" Jill asked, annoyed that Chris was acting so strange.

"This isn't real," Chris voiced aloud.

"What are you talking about?" Jill said. "Of course this is real. I'm real."

Chris eyed her up and down. Jill was the only person he put time into memorizing every feature and every curvature of her body. She looked perfect as she always did. But she was too perfect. Nothing on her body was out of place.

"No, no no no no no!" Chris shouted. "Let me out!" He turned and looked at the sky, as if an unseen god was in control of his madness. "Let me out of this nightmare! This isn't real!"

Suddenly, every person stopped in their tracks. They turned their expressionless faces towards Chris. He felt the eyes of all of them upon him, as if they were staring into his very soul. As they stared, a blackness started to overtake their bodies. Soon, they were nothing but shades.

Even Jill was disappearing into the dark. As she went, she was taunting Chris.

"You couldn't save Piers," she said as darkness moved up her body. As she spoke, her voice echoed with the same eerie voice of Alice. "You couldn't even save Finn and your team back in Edonia. How do you expect to save yourself from this?"

With that, the darkness took her completely. An army of humanoid shades surrounded him.

Chris would have expected Jill's words to sting, but instead they gave him a righteous anger. It fueled his determination to escape this hellhole.

The creatures all started to attack at once.

He fought them off as best he could. He threw punches and kicks in any and every direction to try and ward them off.

The soldier held his own for a long time, but the sheer number of demonic shades was overwhelming.

"I will never give up, Alice!" He shouted as he fought. "You can throw everything you have at me, but I will never give up!"

Suddenly, all the shades collapsed into heaps of black slime. It was as if his words were enough to kill them.

The sky opened and a bright beam of light shot down. Chris was blinded by its brightness.

* * *

After feeling like had been teleported through space and time, Chris snapped back into true reality. It took him a moment to get oriented. He was back at the lab, inside the cell, trapped behind a heavy door.

He looked around and down at his body. His arms were still covered in black slime. Chris jumped back in surprise and fear of the substance. The eerie voice that accompanied the slime was silent. Chris could still feel Alice there, but she was no longer in control.

 _I need to get this off,_ he thought.

Just as the words came to his mind, the slime transformed into scraping tools.

"What?" Chris said, amazed by what he saw.

 _Shovel,_ Chris thought, starting to experiment.

Both of Chris' hands turned into black shovels before he even finished the thought.

It was like the slime had become an extension of his own body. He could move it and transform it like he could move his hands or feet. Chris could literally have any weapon in the world at his fingertips.

Was his dream a test of wills? Him against Alice? Had he won?

Chris had another thought come to mind. As he did, his hands transformed into a flat sheet that was able to wedge through the seams of the cell door. He wrapped the slime around the wall and felt for the manual switch to open the door.

He was delighted to see the door swing open.

Chris felt a surge of power as he made his hands transform into blades. He started to empathize with the real Albert Wesker and his obsession with Uroboros. The strength he felt was indescribable.

He stepped from the cell into the dark hallway.

"Time for some payback."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Chris walked down the prison hallway a different man. Instead of being timid and fearful of what lay ahead, he was determined, and hell-bent on killing Wesker. He wasn't sure about Jake just yet, but if that kid did anything to interfere with his vengeance, then he would pay. He would pay dearly…

He walked up to the first set of electronic doors that blocked him from the labs. Just as he did with the cell door, he wedged the black slime between the cracks. Since there was no switch on the other side, he made his new hands become solid and pulled with all of his might.

The door caved and curled, allowing Chris to walk through.

Why hadn't Alice done this before?

 _Dave was uncooperative._

The voice was back. It was less chilling, but Chris would be more comfortable if it was gone.

"What?" Chris said aloud.

 _He thought we had a better chance of staying alive if we stayed put._ _It took a lot of convincing just to get him to beat down the doors._

 _You weren't fully in control of Dave?_ Chris asked in his mind.

 _He was mostly gone, but he had some sense of 'duty' or whatever to the scientist. He wouldn't hurt him willingly. I tried a thousand ways to trick him, but nothing worked._

 _So that's why you took over my body,_ Chris thought. _You thought maybe I'd be more willing to kill him._

 _Isn't that what you're doing right now?_

Chris paused for a moment. Was Alice still manipulating him? Who was really in control at the moment?

That was something to worry about later. Right now, Chris wanted to use his new-found power on Wesker.

He stormed down the other hallway, past the labs. He started to reach for the double doors, just as he had done before. The doors started to curve. He would have them down in no time.

"Chris!" Jake said over radio. "You're alive?" There was a hint of excitement in his tone.

"Yeah," Chris said back, not bothering to hide his anger. "Wesker left me for dead."

"No, he didn't," Jake said. The door made a loud crunch as a corner caved. "What are you doing, Chris? Why is Alice all over you?"

"I'm here to kill Wesker."

With his words, he pulled the doors off the wall and threw them behind him, causing a loud crash. The noise made the two men in the surveillance room flinch.

"Chris, stay there," Jake said, holding his hands up to indicate that he should stop. "Let us explain…"

"NO!" Chris shouted, his anger doubled by the anger of Alice. "I said I would kill Wesker, so I am going to kill him. It's too late for excuses."

"You leave me no choice, then Chris."

Jake pulled out his 9mm and fired at Chris.

The black slime formed a shield around him, blocking the blow. Chris looked menacingly at Jake as the kid fumbled. His gun was shaking as he aimed it again. He fired off another shot, and another, until he emptied his magazine. Every bullet had been deflected or absorbed by Alice. Even after every bullet was expended, Jake continued to pull the trigger, sounding off small, weak clicks from the gun.

Wesker had been standing behind him, cowering. After he realized that Jake could not protect him, he stood up tall and walked out from behind Jake. The kid tried to stop him, but Wesker told him to stand down.

"If Chris wants me dead, then I guess I'm a dead man," he said. Wesker took all of his weapons and threw them on the ground. He raised his arms up in surrender. "Just make it fast, Chris."

 _Gladly,_ said Alice.

Without Chris' permission, Alice had formed back into sharp blades. She was about to launch herself at Wesker.

"Wait," Chris said softly. His anger evaporated at the sight of a defenseless man before him.

 _What?_ Alice asked, annoyed. _He's right there, let's kill him!_

"No," Chris said, "Wesker wouldn't do this. The real Albert Wesker wouldn't surrender like this."

 _I don't have time for this!_ Alice shouted in Chris' mind.

Alice went to launch herself at Wesker another time, but Chris fought to stay in control. Every attempt to kill the scientist was thwarted. Wesker flinched as the arms flew within inches of his face.

"I. Control. You." Chris struggled to say every word. He realized that Alice was indeed manipulating him, trying to get him to kill Wesker, but she was powerless unless his will was in line with hers. "I won't kill him."

Alice struggled to take the control back, but to no avail.

Wesker let out a sigh of relief. "I thought I was a gonner," he said.

Just as he finished his statement, Chris formed a hand with the black goo and gripped Wesker's throat, picking him up off the ground, and drawing him in so that they were nose-to-nose once more.

"Explain," Chris said through gritted teeth.

Wesker struggled to breathe as he spoke. "I saw you in the cell…covered in black…I thought you were dead…lured Dave back here and into killing room…he's still there, but Jake…I were going to try and recover your body…."

Chris dropped Wesker on the ground. The man doubled over, clutching at his throat. Jake ran over to him, making sure that he was okay.

The soldier was astounded. "You were…?"

Jake glared at him. "Yeah," he said, "we were."

Chris was at a loss of what to do. Here he was, hellbent on destroying Wesker, all the while they were coming up with a plan to recover his body. Wesker must have genuinely thought that the net would have worked. For the first time since being with the men on this adventure, Chris realized how much they both respected him. He realized why they all were there.

Jake wanted to find a father.

Wesker wanted to make up for the sins of his predecessor.

Chris wanted to be forgiven for losing his men, especially Piers.

He looked passed them towards the door of the killing room.

"Which button opens the door?" he asked.

"What are you going to do?" Jake asked.

Wesker looked up at Chris, reading his intentions. "The red one," he said with a hoarse voice.

Chris reached over with a black arm and hit the red switch. "Both of you stay here," he said plainly. "I'm going to end this."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Chris walked through the double doors into the killing room. There he found Dave standing upon a pile of zombies, devouring their gasoline-soaked bodies. His handless arms were dangling at his sides. He held a corpse up between his legs as he tore away the flesh from the torso.

The monster had pushed aside his surgical mask, revealing a mouth full of sharpened, crooked teeth. Chris' comparison to an albino body builder quickly changed to a vampire on steroids.

The smell of rotting flesh still dominated the room, but Chris felt it was more of an annoyance than a hindrance.

Dave heard Chris as he moved closer. The beast looked up at him with a blood-stained face and a malicious stare. His red eyes showed nothing but hatred. He started to growl, just as a guard dog would at an intruder. A vein popped in the monster's forehead, indicating that he was ready to kill. Dave put a half-eaten zombie down and stood up straight.

Chris transformed his arms into blades. He started to sidestep slowly.

Dave saw Chris move and started to move sideways as well. Both of them were circling each other, trying to get a feel for the enemy.

The beast was the first to charge.

Chris held up his arms, trying to block the tackle, but it still pushed him back several feet. He steadied himself and got ready for the next blow.

Dave came charging at him again, but this time, Chris used the slime to give him a boost as he side-stepped the monster. As he ran past, Chris stabbed him in the side.

The monster let out a howl of pain as he continued to charge to the opposite side of the room, standing upon another pile of zombies.

At this point, both Chris and Dave were covered in blood. Chris had to be careful not to let it hinder his movements – he could slip or the blood could get into his eyes. Any such distraction could mean certain death.

Dave learned his lesson about charging. Instead, he approached Chris slowly, his handless arms up in defense. Once Dave came close enough, he raised a giant foot and tried to kick at Chris. The soldier was able to dodge the majority of the blow, but Dave's heel caught him on the shoulder. A slight _pop_ let Chris know that his shoulder was dislocated.

Chris stumbled back. Without thinking about it, Chris grabbed his own shoulder and popped it back into place. He let out a growl of pain through gritted teeth. He was grateful that he had the black slime to do most of the work.

 _I know how to kill him,_ Alice teased.

 _Shut up,_ Chris thought.

It was enough to distract him.

Dave had come charging back at Chris, knocking him over into a pile of zombies. Chris was face-to-face with a rotting skull, it's unblinking eyes taunting him. Dave quickly came over and stomped down on Chris' back. The soldier had used Alice to put up a shield to protect himself, but it wasn't enough. Dave had trapped him.

 _I'll make you a deal,_ Alice said, still taunting. _I'll tell you how to kill him if you let me kill Wesker._

 _No, bitch,_ Chris thought. _Back off._

Dave continued to push down on Chris' back, forcing him further into the pile of zombies and right up against the rotting corpse. Chris wanted to vomit more than ever.

Suddenly, Chris had an idea.

He kept his shield up as best as he could while sending half of the slime up Dave's leg. It inched closer to his knee, up his thigh, and over his waist in no time.

Dave started to growl in fear, but he did not move his foot.

Chris felt that the black goo would not make it unless he relinquished his shield. He let go, and as he did, he fell all the way to the bottom of the pile, laying under at least twenty rotting corpses. The smell assaulted his nostrils.

In the meantime, the slime continued to encompass Dave. Once it reached his face, it filled every orifice it could find. It forced its way through the monster's mouth, eyes, nose and ears until it was inside his body, moving down to his chest cavity.

When it got there, Chris felt for its heart through his connection with Alice.

He found the vulnerable organ and squeezed. He felt the heart burst, gushing through the slime.

Chris felt the pressure release as Dave fell backwards. The monster was dead before he hit the ground.

"Chris!"

The soldier felt the bodies rustle as Jake and Wesker dug him out of the pile.

"Chris, that was awesome!" Jake said.

"It didn't feel awesome," Chris said, standing up. Alice had come back out of Dave's body and attached herself to Chris once more. "This isn't over yet," Chris said, looking at the black slime, now encircling his body. "How do we get rid of Alice?"

"We can douse her in flames," Wesker said. "She can't protect herself for too long."

"That was my first idea!" Jake said, angry that they were just now agreeing with his original plan.

 _YOU WON'T GET RID OF ME EASILY,_ Alice shouted in his mind. _I WON'T LEAVE YOU. YOU'LL HAVE TO BURN WITH ME._

Chris flinched at the chaos inside of his mind.

He let out a sigh as he looked at the men, his face grim.

"You'll have to burn me with her," he told them. "She won't get off of me."

Jake looked at him, true sorrow in his eyes. "Chris…I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be," Chris said, half of a smile on his face. "That dog would have killed me if you weren't there. I'm sorry I didn't trust you."

"I'm sorry I gave you a reason not to trust me." Jake hung his head in shame.

Chris was more than willing to sacrifice his life to keep the monster from entering the world. He would have done the same in every single mission, including his mission to kill the original Albert Wesker. As long as the monster died with him, Chris was willing to go.

"No," Wesker said, interjecting. "No, Chris. This is my fight. I will take Alice and burn with her."

"I can't let you do that, Al," Chris said. "You've spent your life fighting these things. You can't come this close and not live to tell the tale."

"Who do I have to tell?" Wesker said. "I've spent my life here. I have no one. I can't even go out in public. Everyone knows my face as a mass murderer and terrorist."

Before Chris could protest further, Wesker reached out his arm and grabbed on to the black slime. Alice happily took over her new host.

"No!" Jake shouted, pulling on the slime, trying to keep it on Chris. "No, you can't do this!"

Jake's efforts were fruitless. Alice was free from Chris and had encircled Wesker's body.

"Chris, don't you let him do this!" Jake shouted as tears streamed from his face. "Don't you let him fucking do this! You owe me a father!"

Wesker looked at Jake and then at Chris, his face flushed with confusion. "A father?"

Chris looked at him solemnly. "Jake is Albert Wesker's son."

The man was taken aback. His mouth tried to form words, but nothing would come. Tears filled his eyes.

"I'm so sorry, boy," he said when he found words, addressing Jake. "As much as you may wish for a better father, I'm not it. You can only work with the hand you've been dealt. But life isn't about where you came from: it's about where you're going. I know I've only known you a short while, but, as far as I can tell, you're going places."

Jake fell to his knees, unable to accept that he was going to lose two fathers in his lifetime.

Wesker's head jerked back. Chris could only assume the motion indicated an internal fight with Alice.

"She's trying to take over," Wesker said, struggling to speak. "You better hurry, Chris."

"Let me take her back," Chris said. "You don't deserve to die like this."

"I couldn't even if I wanted to," Wesker said. "She won't leave. She wants me dead." He fell to the ground, Alice circling him faster and faster. "Go to the control room and set this room on fire, Chris. Don't let her take me."

Chris knew exactly what he meant. When Alice was in control, Chris hated the feeling. It was like his body was acting outside of his will and he was helplessly watching. Jill had described the same feeling when she had been under Albert Wesker's control. She voiced to Chris a thousand times that she would rather die than go through that again.

It was a feeling that he wouldn't wish upon his worst enemy.

He grabbed Jake under his arms and dragged him back towards the door. Jake fought him, slowing him down.

"Come on, Jake!" Chris shouted. "He made his decision! Let's go!"

Jake continued to struggle. Suddenly, a black mass came from Wesker and pushed both of them into the other room. The kid had flown back so far, that he hit the opposite wall. The wind had been knocked out of him.

Chris was still on his feet and he ran to the control panel. He hit the red switch closing the door, just as Wesker withdrew his arms. Chris followed through with the commands to set the room alight.

Jake had regained his composure and started to charge at Chris.

"NOOOOO!" he shouted as he ran.

Chris hit the final switch before Jake made it to him. Regardless, Jake tackled him to the ground.

The sound of whirling flames followed quickly by Wesker's cries of pain came from the room, making Chris feel like he had been stabbed in the stomach with a hot knife.

Jake, failing in his attempt to stop Chris, punched him over and over.

Chris was powerless to stop him. All he could do was wait.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

After several minutes, Jake finally stopped beating on Chris. The kid had rolled off of him, onto his back, and started weeping.

All Chris could do was sit up and lean his back against the wall. His whole body ached. Not only had he survived a car accident, but he survived a one-on-one battle with an indestructible monster. He had the cuts and bruises to show it.

He wanted to cry alongside Jake, but he knew the kid wouldn't accept his empathy. He would be surprised if he ever forgave Chris for killing his father…twice.

It felt like an eternity before the screams from the other room ceased. Even after they did, Chris couldn't find the strength to move. He sat, watching the kid writhe on the ground, enveloped by sorrow. He wondered if Jake would ever get through the emotional turmoil.

The sorrow weighed upon Chris as well, but he knew he couldn't stay sitting there forever. He got up and checked the computer monitor. He pulled up the cameras for the killing room.

Most of them were dead. Alice had probably taken them out. Chris didn't know why she would want them to stay in the dark: she was killing Wesker, which was what she wanted all along.

The last remaining camera showed nothing but flames.

They had to wait several hours before the flames died down enough to see anything. Jake had moved to the far corner of the room, refusing to talk to Chris at all. He sat with his arms around his knees, like a small child who had just heard his parent's fighting and was unsure about what was to come.

Chris decided to give him some space. He knew that Jake's anger could return at any moment and that his life would be on the line.

The flames finally subsided to reveal nothing but bone and ash. There was no sign of Alice or Wesker.

Chris knew that the room would be much too hot for them to get through to the outside. They would have to wait several more hours for the room to cool.

"Jake," Chris said timidly.

The kid winced at the sound of his name.

"We may be here several more hours to wait for the room to cool down…"

Jake said nothing.

"If you want, I can call my team in and they can dig us out…"

No response.

"I'll need my phone back to do that…"

Jake reached behind him and pulled Chris' phone from his back pocket. "Fuck you," was all he could muster as he slid the device across the floor.

"Thank you," Chris said, giving a half-hearted smile.

The kid would never forgive him.

Chris dialed Jill's personal cell phone.

"Chris!" she said as she answered. "Chris, you haven't responded to my calls at all! That's not like you. What the hell happened?"

"Hi Jill," Chris said, keeping his voice calm. "I'm okay. It's a long story, and I promise to tell you everything. I just need a favor."

"Of course," she said. "Anything."

He requested that she brought only a handful of BSAA agents who could be trusted. Without saying his name, Chris mentioned that he had Jake, "an innocent," whom he had to get out of this secret lab they found.

"Why didn't you call me when you found it?" Jill asked after she agreed to come.

"I'll have to tell you later," Chris said.

Jill was still curious, but she trusted him. "Okay…" she said. "I'm on my way."

After an hour, Jill and five agents arrived with hazmat suits. They dug their way into the lab from the cabin and rescued Chris and Jake.

Jake didn't say a word. He was distant the entire time, not making eye contact with anyone.

Once they got back to the surface, Chris sent the five BSAA agents back to the helicopter they arrived in.

"What now?" Jill asked, looking from Chris to Jake.

"I need to go," was all that Jake said.

"But we need your side of the story for the documentation," Jill said to him.

Chris put up a hand to her. "He was never here."

"But…" Jill started to protest.

"He was never here," Chris repeated, interrupting her.

She was suspicious, but let it go. "Okay," she said.

Jake turned around and started running. He didn't stop.

Chris could only watch as he disappeared into the forest, hoping beyond hope that he didn't run into any more monsters.

"What happened here, Chris?" Jill asked, watching Chris' expressions.

"Let's check the area," he responded, still watching Jake. "There are still zombies around here that we need to take out. After that…" Chris paused and looked back at Jill, "Let's go home. We can send a team back to investigate the actual labs."

Chris, Jill and the BSAA agents swept the area and killed off every last remaining zombie.

After they had finished, Chris swore the five men to secrecy about the other man whom they had rescued. They didn't ask any questions. They respected Captain Redfield and knew that he always had a reason for what he did.

They all went back to the helicopter and headed home. Chris was silent the whole ride, not wanting to tell Jill anything until they were in privacy. She was eager to hear everything that happened, but she let Chris decide when they would talk.

"We're getting too old for this," Jill said, trying to lighten the mood.

Chris chuckled. "Speak for yourself."

"Well," Jill said, growing more serious "As long as you're up for it, I got a report just before you called me. Something about a BOW terrorizing a farm in Louisiana. Do you want to check it out?"

Chris was silent for a moment. He just lived one of his worst nightmares, and now he had to go back into it once more.

He couldn't stop fighting. He wouldn't stop fighting. If sacrificing his life to stopping Bioterrorism meant that someone out there could lead a normal life, he would do it. He would have chosen the same path whether Raccoon City started it or not.

 **Author's Note:** I want to thank the readers that have made it this far. I know I'm not the best writer in the world, so thank you for sticking with me for the sake of the story. Thank you for all the reviews and comments along the way. You've encouraged me to keep going.

I know that my writing style needs work. Like most fan fiction, the concept is more interesting than the actual composure of the piece. I think I tend to write "too fast," jumping into conversations and action scenes when there are opportunities to describe feelings or the atmosphere.

This is my first ever story that I have published and I am only encouraged by the feedback that I have received. I decided to post this one because it is a concept that I desperately wanted Capcom to run with. The Chris-Jake dynamic in RE6 was one of the game's redeeming qualities, and I was disappointed that Jake never got to meet Wesker. I was also trying to keep it cannon as much as possible so that it can be turned into a RE video game...if Capcom ever runs out of ideas, haha.

Please continue to comment and let me know how I could make this story better. Thank you so much for your time and I hope you enjoyed the story.


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